LIBRARY 

OP  THE 

Theological    Seminary, 


BL  225  .H4  1870 
c     Harris,  John,  1802-1856 
The  pre-Adamite  earth 

Book, "•^' -•■■■ 


THE 


P  RE-ADAMITE     EARTH 


CONTRIBUTION 


TO 


THEOLOGICAL  SCIENCE. 


JOHN    HARRIS,   D.  D., 

AUTHOR  OF   "THE   GREAT  TEACHER,"  ETC. 


SIXTH  EDITION,  REVISED  AND  ENLARGED. 


BOSTON: 

&OXJIjD     ^N33      LINCOLN, 

59     WASHINGTON     STREET. 

NEW    YORK:     SHELDON    AND    COMPANY. 

CINCINNATI  :   G.  S.  BLANCHARD  &  CO. 

18  70. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface .        7 


FIRST  PART. 
Primabt  Truths 13 

SECOND  PART. 
Principles  deduciblb  from  the  preceding  Truths  .      50 

THIRD  PART. 
Inorganic  Nature «4 

FOURTH   PART. 
Organic  Life 129 


FIFTH   PART. 
Sentient  Existence  176 


CONTENTS. 


Note  A,  referred  to  in  paga 

B  li  u  a 

Q  ((  U  (( 

D  « 

E  "  "  " 

Q  U  u  i 

H  "  "  " 


NOTES. 

PAGE. 

13 271 

75 273 

77 282 

131 283 

180 287 

218 290 

213  ,        ,        .        .        .  291 

231 292 


*^*  It  may  save  the  reader  some  trouble  to  be  apprised,  that  the 
order  in  which  the  Principles  are  stated  in  the  Second  Part  is  not 
the  order  in  which  they  are  subsequently  illustrated.  The  order  in 
which  they  are  illustrated  in  the  Third,  Fourth,  and  Fifth  Parts,  is 
the  same. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  volume  is  intended  to  be  the  first  of  a  short 
series  of  Treatises  —  each  complete  in  itself — in  which  the 
principles  or  laws  hereafter  deduced,  and  applied  to  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  the  pre- Adamite  earth,  will  be  seen  in  their  his- 
torical development  as  applied  to  individual  man;  to  the  family 
to  the  nation  ;  to  the  Son  of  God  as  "  the  second  Adam,  the 
Lord  from  heaven  ;"  to  the  church  which  he  has  founded  ;  to 
the  revelation  which  he  has  completed ;  and  to  the  future  pros- 
pects of  humanity.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  state  the  rea- 
sons which  have  induced  me  to  adopt  this  particular  method 
of  exhibiting  theological  science ;  to  specify  the  points  in  which 
it  differs  from  those  methods  which  may  be  considered  most 
nearly  to  resemble  it ;  and  to  enlarge  on  the  advantages,  di- 
rect and  indirect,  which  it  is  proposed  to  secure  by  it.  But, 
besides  that  such  topics,  if  introduced  at  all,  would  require  to 
be  treated  at  considerable  length,  I  would  rather  that  the 
method  adopted  should,  as  it  is  gradually  unfolded  in  the  suc- 
cessive Treatises,  be  allowed  to  speak  for  itself.  If  any  ex- 
planatory remarks  respecting  it  are  deemed  necessary,  they 
will,  it  appears  to  me,  be  more  in  place  at  the  close  of  the  Se- 
ries than  at  the  commencement. 

This  first  volume  consists  of  five  parts.     Of  these,  the  first 
par*^  contains  those  Primary  Truths  which  Divine  Revelatioi) 


8  PREFACE. 

appears  to  place  at  the  foundation  of  all  the  objective  manifes- 
tations of  the  Deity ;  the  second,  presents  the  Laws  or  Gene- 
ral Principles,  which  are  regarded  as  logically  resulting  from 
the  preceding  Truths ;  and  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  parts, 
are  occupied  with  the  Exemplification  and  Verification  of  these 
Laws  in  the  inorganic,  the  vegetable,  and  the  animal  kingdoms 
of  the  pre-Adamite  earth,  respectively.  From  this  statement 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  first  two  parts  are  here  as  introductory, 
not  to  the  present  volume  merely,  but  to  the  entire  series ;  and 
that,  as  exhibiting  the  process  by  which  the  method  has  been 
arrived  at,  they  will  not  require,  except  in  substance,  to  be 
subsequently  repeated. 

As  Revealed  Theology  is  here  seen  in  organic  connection 
with  natural  science,  a  few  remarks  explanatory  of  that  con- 
nection will  not  be  deemed  irrelevant.  Of  the  theology  itself, 
I  will  only  say,  at  present,  that  it  is  that  which  I  believe ;  but, 
inasmuch,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  mere  human  forms  of  thought 
and  language,  I  can,  of  course,  expect  that  others  will  accede 
to  it  only  as  far  as  they  believe  it  to  be  in  harmony  with  "  the 
true  sayings  of  God."  Nor  can  I  be  insensible  that  the  laws 
deduced  from  it  will  be  prejudiced  in  some  minds,  by  the  no- 
tion that  the  adoption  of  them  involves  the  reception  of  the 
theology.  But  as  views  deducible  from  the  highest  grounds 
are  generally  found  to  be  inferrible  also  from  lower  and  ana- 
logical premises,  it  should  be  considered,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, whether  these  laws  might  not  be  accepted  on  such  in- 
ferior grounds  without  committing  the  recipient  to  any  ulterior 
views.  Even  less  than  this,  however,  is  necessary.  For,  if 
the  reader  should  demur  to  adopt  the  Laws  as  they  are  de- 
duced from  the  Primary  Truths  of  the  first  Part,  he  has  to 
consider  whether  he  is  not  called  on  to  admit  them,  as  they  are 
sustained  and  inductively  verified  by  the  facts  adduced  in  the 
three  concluding  Parts.  These  facts,  I  may  remark  in  pass- 
ing, admit  of  almost  indefinite  multiplication,  but  it  has  been 
my  aim  to  adduce  only  such  and  so  many  as  appeared  essen- 
tial to  the  verificaiion  of  the  laws. 


PREFACE.  9 

Of  the  connection  between  theology  and  natural  science 
generally,  it  may  be  assumed  that  every  one  who  admits  that 
there  is  a  true  theology  and  a  true  science  of  nature,  will  ad- 
mit also  that  there  is  a  sense,  whatever  it  may  be,  in  which  the 
two  are  related.  The  mind  which  elicits  and  embraces  both, 
is  one ;  so  that,  however  distinct  the  process  by  which  it  ar- 
rives at  the  knowledge  of  each,  and  however  different  the 
sources  and  kinds  of  evidence  on  which  that  knowledge  rests, 
both  branches  evince  their  inherent  unison,  in  the  unity  of  the 
knowing  mind  itself.  On  this  conviction  it  is  that  men  no 
sooner  begin  to  think,  than  they  next  proceed  to  examine  the 
laws  of  thought ;  if  they  collect  facts,  they  next  inquire  for 
the  causes  of  those  facts ;  and  when  they  have  succeeded  in 
developing  any  of  the  sciences,  they  then  look  for  the  internal 
bond  of  union  which  makes  them  all  one.  And  for  such  a 
nexus  they  seek  under  the  unquestioned  conviction  that  it 
exists;  for  the  conviction  simply  implies  that,  as  reasoning 
concerning  each  separate  science  is  possible,  so  reasoning  con- 
cerning collective  science  must  be  possible. 

Well  had  it  been  for  theology  and  philosophy  if  the  bond 
which  unites  them  had  been  clearly  ascertained,  and  never  dis- 
severed. But  the  erroneous  views  which  some  have  enter- 
tained respecting  the  relation  of  the  two,  have  originated  evils 
only  less  than  those  flowing  from  their  unnatural  separation. 
The  error  of  Descartes  and  his  followers  consisted,  not  in  mak- 
ing theology  the  point  of  their  philosophy,  but  in  regarding 
their  metaphysical  deductions  as  adequate  to  explain  all  physi- 
cal phenomena.  By  reasoning  only,  a  priori,  or  proceeding 
continually  downwards  from  cause  to  effect,  they  were,  not 
questioning  Nature,  but  answering  for  her;  legislating,  in 
effect,  where  God  had  legislated  already ;  and  so  "  building  a 
world  upon  hypothesis."  i  There  is,  however,  a  wide  inter- 
val between  the  extreme  which  makes  everything  of  a  prin- 

'  Introduction  to  Butler's  Analogy,  &c. 


10  PREFACE. 

ciple,  and  that  which  seeks  security  from  it,  by  abandoning 
the  principle  altogether. 

As  surely  as  the  mind  is  one,  the  truth  to  which  the  mind 
is  preconfigured  is  one.  On  this  ground  it  is  that  we  argue 
from  the  known  to  the  unknown  ;  approach  a  subject  of  inquiry 
under  the  guidance  of  an  antecedent  probability  as  to  what  we 
shall  find  in  it ;  and  employ  analogy  and  hypothesis  as  instru- 
ments of  scientific  discovery.  "  How,"  inquires  Plato,  "  can 
you  expect  to  find  unless  you  have  a  general  idea  of  what  you 
seek  ?"  "  The  mind,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "  must  bring  to  every 
experiment  a  '  precogitation,'  or  antecedent  idea,  as  the  ground 
of  that '  prudens  qusestio,' "  which  he  pronounces  to  be  the  prior 
half  of  the  knowledge  sought — "  dimidium  scientias."  Indeed,  is 
not  the  Novum  Organum  itself  of  hypothetical  origin?  "When 
Newton  said, '  Hypotheses  non  fingo,'  he  did  not  mean  that  he 
deprived  himself  of  the  facilities  of  investigation  afforded  by 
assuming,  in  the  first  instance,  what  he  hoped  ultimately  to  be 
able  to  prove.  Without  such  assumptions,  science  could  never 
have  attained  its  present  state ;  tKey  are  necessary  steps  in  the 
progress  to  something  more  certain;  and  nearly  everything 
which  is  now  theory  was  once  hypothesis.  Even  in  purely 
experimental  science,  some  inducement  is  necessary  for  trying 
one  experiment  rather  than  another."^  These  hypotheses,  as 
the  language  impHes,  are  only  provisional.  They  must  be  of 
a  nature  to  admit  of  verification ;  and  be  actually  subjected  to 
a  test  which  shall  confirm  or  explode  them. 

In  the  same  provisional  manner  might  principles  derived 
from  the  domain  of  revealed  theology  be  advantageously  carried 
into  the  province  of  nature.  There  is  a  true  deductive  method 
in  science  as  well  as  a  false  ;  and  there  is  a  right  method  of 
employing  theological  principles  in  philosophy,  as  well  as  a 
wrong.  Everything  depends  on  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
employed.  The  inductive  conclusion  must  be  kept  distinct 
from  the  speculative  assumption.     However  fruitful  the  de- 

*  Mill's  System  of  Logic,  vol.  ii.  p.  18. 


PREFACE.  11 

ductive  principle  may  be,  it  can  be  used  only  for  suggestion,' 
not  for  demnostration ;  the  froof  of  the  view  suggested  must 
be  of  the  samenature  with  that  of  the  subject  investigated  or 
discussed. 

In  the  following  pages,  the  principles  introduced  are  to  be 
regarded  as  employed  only  in  this  conditional  manner.  The 
reader  is  to  view  them,  as  far  as  their  application  to  nature 
is  concerned,  as  entirely  tentative  or  provisional,  until  their 
applicability  has  been  tested.  If  on  a  comparison  of  the  in- 
ductive truth  adduced,  with  these  deductive  principles,  their 
applicability  is  apparent,  let  the  obvious  inference  be  accepted, 
that  there  is  a  theology  in  nature  which  is  ultimately  one  with 
the  theology  of  the  Bible  —  that  there  are  principles  of  varied 
but  universal  application. 

The  attempt  which  is  here  made  to  deduce  such  principles, 
and  to  apply  them  to  the  successive  stages  of  creation,  proceeds 
on  the  assumption  that  the  whole  process  of  Divine  Manifesta- 
tion, including  nature,  is  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  sublime 
argument  in  which  God  is  deductively  reasoning  from  princi- 
ples to  facts,  from  generals  to  particulars.  With  the  great 
synthetic  Whole  ever  present  to  His  mind.  He  is  seen  unfold- 
ing the  parts  of  which  it  consists.  In  order  that  man  may  feel 
the  force  of  this  reasoning,  his  mind,  equally  with  the  Divine 
IVIind,  must  pre-suppose,  or  be  prepared  to  admit,  the  primary 
truths  on  which  the  reasoning  depends.  But  besides  these, 
the  Great  Argument  implies  (as  in  every  case  of  ordinary  rea- 
soning) that  there  are  certain  ideas  or  truths  in  the  mind  of 
God,  which  are  not  yet  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  which  it  is  the 
design  of  the  argument  to  convey.  For  example  —  whatever 
exhibits  marks  of  design  must  have  had  an  intelligent  author; 
the  world  exhibits  marks  of  design,  therefore  the  world  must 
have  had  an  intelligent  Author.  Here,  the  major  is  assumed 
alike  by  God  and  man ;  the  conclusion  is,  at  first,  in  the  mind 
of  God  alone,  and  the  design  of  the  great  argument  is  to  con- 
vey it  into  the  mind  of  man  also ;  but  the  attainment  of  this 


12  PREFACE. 

end  depends  on  the  truth  of  the  minor  —  that  the  world  does 
exhibit  marks  of  design ;  and  how  is  this  proposition  to  be 
established  except  by  induction?  To  the  infinitely  blessed 
God,  then,  the  entire  process  of  Divine  Manifestation  is,  in  its 
reference  to  man,  a  sublime  syllogism,  of  which  the  last  object 
and  the  remotest  event  are  already  included  potentially  in  the 
major ;  the  unfolding  of  which  is  destined  to  occupy  the  coming 
eternity.  While  man,  appointed  to  find  the  sphere  of  his  activ- 
ity and  improvement  in  the  intermediate  space  between  the 
Necessary  and  the  Contingent,  and  unable  to  rest  but  in  the  felt 
junction  of  the  two,  shall  derive  perpetual  accessions  of  enjoy- 
ment as  he  ascends  from  the  Particular  to  the  Infinite  with 
whom  it  has  originated,  and  in  whom  is  it  contained. 


THE 


PRE-ADAMITE  EARTH 


FIRST    PART. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The   Great  Reason;  or,  why  God  is,  and  must  be   His 
own  end  from  everlasting  to  everlasting. 

God  is  not  nature ;  nor  is  nature  God.  Before  nature, 
before  any  part  or  being  of  the  objective  universe  existed, 
the  God  of  the  Bible  had  existed  from  eternity  in  his  own 
self-sufficience.  And  the  absolute  perfection  which  that  self- 
sufficience  implies,  determines  that  it  shall  be,  in  some  sense, 
tlT!e  chief  reason  and  last  end  of  everything  created ;  so  that 
He  will  continue  to  inhabit  his  self-sufficience  through  the 
eternity  to  come.  We  beHeve,  indeed,  that,  while  He  su- 
premely regards  His  ^wn  glory.  He  really  regards  the  well- 
being  of  the  created  universe  for  its  own  sake ;  that  this 
well-being  is  regarded  by  God  a§  an  end  —  in  the  sense  of 
being  an  object  desirable  on  its  own  account ;  and  that  He 
delights  in  it  as  such ;  but  that  the  ultimate,  chief,  and  all- 
comprehending  end  is  His  own  glory.i 

1.  Had  there  ever  been  a  period  when  nothing  was, 
nothing  would  still  have  been.  Then  the  Creator  of  all 
things  is  himself  uncreated,  unoriginated,  eternal.  "  He  is 
from  everlasting."     Far  b^ck,  in  thought,  and  beyond  the 

\  See  Note  A. 
2 


14  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

limits  of  time,  as  we  may  be  able  occasionally,  and  for  a  single 
moment,  to  go,  we  are  ever  accompanied  by  the  humbling 
conviction  that  we  have  made  no  approach  whatever  to  the 
understanding  of  His  eternity.  The  discoveries  of  science 
lead  back  our  imagination  to  a  period  incalculably  remote ; 
but  even  if  each  of  the  countless  stars  had  been  formed  in 
succession,  and  if  the  time  which  elapsed  between  the  forma- 
tion of  each  had  equalled  that  entire  period,  the  mind  which 
could  span  the  whole  —  wliich  could  dart  back  a  thought  to 
the  moment  in  which  the  first  star  beamed  on  the  regions  of 
space,  would  feel  that  it  had  only  reached  the  starting  point 
for  the  preceding  eternity.  For  if  then  it  should  ask,  "  Where 
dwelt  the  Deity  before  that?" — the  answer  of  the  Oracle  is, 
"  He  inhabited  eternity ; "  and  that  star  of  which  it  had 
caught  a  glimpse,  could  only  be  regarded  as  the  first  lamp 
that  was  lighted  up  to  guide  the  way  back  to  His  dread 
abode. 

2.  Then  must  His  mysterious  existence  be  necessary  and 
independent ;  i  for  as  there  has  never  been  anything,  ab  extra, 
to  necessitate  it,  had  it  not  been  necessary  of  and  from  itself 
only,  it  could  neither  have  been,  nor  have  continued  to  be. 
Th^  great  parent  truth,  therefore,  which  He  may  be  regarded 
as  silently  repeating,  through  all  the  solitudes  of  space,  and 
through  every  point  of  duration,  is  the  sublime  affii-mation, 
"  I  AM  —  underived,  self-existent,  absolute  Being ;  in  which 
sense  there  never  has  been,  never  will  be,  never  can  be,  any 
Being  besides."  All  other  being  can  only  be  derived  and 
dependent. 

3.  In  harmony  with  the  dictates  of  enlightened  reason,  the 
Bible  authenticates  the  deduction  that  the  Being  whose  exist- 
ence is  eternal  and  independent,  is  also  absolutely  perfect.  The 
power  of  God  must  be  omnipotence ;  His  knowledge,  omni- 
science ;  His  holy  benevolence,  unlimited  by  anytliing  incom- 
patible with  perfection.  'No  one  kind  of  excellence  can  be 
unlimited  unless  it  be  associated  with  every  other  kind  of 
excellence ;  so  that  the  possession  of  any  one  unlimited  excel- 
lence implies  the  existence,  and  involves  the  necessity,  ot 
absolute  perfection. 

4.  But  if  the  infinite  nature  of  the  Divine  Being  precludes 
the  existence  of  another  independent  and  unlimited  Being, 
the  existence  of  a  second   would  necessarily  involve  mutual 

^  See  Gillespie's  Necessary  Existence  of  God. 


THE    GREAT   REASON.  .,  15 

limitation ;  which  would  amount  to  a  self-contradiction.  In 
every  sense,  therefore,  consistent  with  perfection,  He  has  ever 
existed  alone.  Were  He  to  break  the  silence  of  eternity,  He 
might  demand,  "  Is  there  a  God  besides  me  ?  yea,  there  is 
none ;  I  know  not  any.i  I,  who  know  all  the  possibilities  of 
being,  know  not  of  such  a  being ;  I,  who  at  this  moment  am 
everywhere  present  throughout  illimitable  space,  find  such  a 
being  nowhere  ;  I,  who  have  thus  inhabited  immensity  from 
eternity,  have  never,  in  any  point  of  past  duration,  beheld  the 
least  manifestation  of  such  a  being;  I,  who  am  unlimited 
Being,  exclude,  by  that  very  necessity  of  my  nature,  the  pos- 
sibility of  another  unlimited  being." 

5.  But  what  finite  mind  can  conceive  the  conditions  in- 
cluded in  Absolute  Perfection !  To  evolve  these  will  require 
eternity ;  for  could  they  be  evolved  in  less  they  would  not  be 
unlimited.  All  that  we  can  say,  therefore,  or  shall  ever  be 
able  to  say,  is,  that  whatever  the  amount  of  mystery  included 
in  the  objective  universe  may  ever  be,  the  probability  is,  that 
the  proportion  which  it  bears  to  the  mystery  of  the  Divine 
nature  will  be  that  of  the  limited  to  the  unlimited ;  that  if 
infinite  perfection  implies  infinite  mysteriousness,  which  it  cer- 
tainly does,  then  infinite  mysteriousness  must  ever  form  one 
of  the  distinctive  excellences  of  that  perfection ;  that  if  the 
operation  of  infinite  activity  (either  of  love,  of  power,  or  of 
any  other  excellence)  be  essential  to  infinite  perfection,  and  if 
such  activity  could  not  be  agent  and  object  at  the  same  time, 
and  in  the  same  act,  and  yet  no  object,  ad  extra,  existed  from 
eternity,  then  must  it  have  existed  in  the  Divine  nature  itself; 
in  other  words,  the  Divine  nature  must  include  a  plurality  of 
distinctions,  and  include  it  as  one  of  its  necessary  conditions, 
or  essential  perfections ;  2  that  if  no  exercise  of  the  Divine  effi- 
ciency, ad  extra,  can  ever  be  adequate  to  its  infinite  perfection, 
and  yet  such  adequate  exercise,  in  some  way,  must  always  be 
necessary  to  infinite  perfection,  then  must  it  be  one  of  the  ex- 
cellences of  the  Divine  nature,  not  only  that  it  should  include 
a  plurality  of  distinctions,  but  that  the  adequate  sphere  of  its 
infinite  activity  should  be  its  own  infinite  perfections  ;  that  if  a 

'  Isaiah,  xliv.  6,  8. 

2  See  Howe's  Calm  Enquiry  concerning  the  Possibility  of  a  Trinity 
in  the  Godhead.  Professor  Kidd  on  the  Trinity.  Storr  and  Flatt,  B.  ii 
\  46.  §  44.  111.  8.  Dr.  J.  P.  Smith's  Testimony  of  the  Messiah,  (Second 
Edition,)  v.  i.  c.  iv.  \  35,  v.  iii.  app.  iv. 


16  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

God  in  unity,  without  internal  distinctions,  or  diversity  of 
modes,  be  incapable  of  moral  affection,  because  having  had 
nothing,  ad  extra,  from  eternity  to  love,  then  such  internal  dis- 
tinctions must  ever  have  existed  as  elements  of  reciprocal, 
social,  self-sufficient  perfection ;  and  that  if  such  plurality  be 
an  excellence,  and  if  unity  be  an  excellence  also ;  and  if  there 
be  any  respect  in  which  this  pluraUty  of  one  kind  can  consist 
as  an  excellence  with  this  unity  of  another,  then  it  will  cer- 
tainly be  included  in  absolute  perfection.  And  further,  this 
perfection  implies  not  only  that  all  the  excellence  which  it 
includes  is  simple,  uncompounded,  one,  but  that  God  and  it 
are  identical :  that  it  is  not  an  adjunct  of  His  being,  but  His 
being  itself. 

6.  But  for  the  same  reason  that  His  perfection  of  being  and 
character  is  unlimited,  it  must  ever  have  been  unchangeable 
also.  Besides  which,  it  must  be  of  the  essence  of  Absolute 
Perfection  that  in  everything  belonging  to  that  perfection,  it 
can  neither  require  nor  admit  of  a  change.  Though  an  eter- 
nity has  passed,  the  Deity  is  now  what  He  ever  was ;  "  without 
the  shadow  of  a  turning."  The  past  has  stayed  with  Him, 
the  future  has  ever  been  present  to  Him :  the  one  could  not 
diminish  his  perfection,  nor  the  other  augment  it.  "  Who  by 
searching  can  find  out  God ! " 

7.  Then  the  Deity  has  existed  from  eternity  as  His  own 
end.  By  supposition,  nothing  as  yet  has  been  brought  into  ex- 
istence. No  ground  therefore  exists,  no  occasion  has  yet  been 
given,  for  raising  the  great  question  as  to  who  or  what  can  be 
that  end.  No  creative  fiat  has  yet  gone  forth.  Time  has  not 
counted  its  first  revolution.  In  imagination,  we  are  standing 
in  the  solitudes  of  the  past  eternity.  Never  has  this  stillness 
been  broken.  No  ray  of  created  light  has  ever  penetrated 
this  darkness.  This  infinite  space  has  never  owned  a  world. 
No  seraph  bows  before  His-  throne.  If  these  solitudes  shall 
ever  be  peopled  with  finite  beings,  the  purpose  is  shut  up  in 
the  mind  of  God.  Boundless  as  His  capacity  for  happiness 
must  always  have  been,  the  consciousness  of  His  own  excel- 
lence, and  the  contemplation  of  His  own  perfections,  have  ever 
been  sufficient  to  fill  it.  Unlimited  and  unceasing  as  must 
have  been  His  activity.  His  own  nature  has  l)een  sufficient  to 
exercise  and  contain  the  whole.  Dateless  in  His  duration, 
tlie  postponement  of  creation  for  ten  thousand  thousand  ages 
would  not  increase  that  duration,  nor  would  it  have  been 
diminished  had  the  fiat  gone  forth  ten  thousand  thousand  ages 


THE    GREAT   REASON.  17 

before  it  did.  Unshared  by  anything,  ab  extra,  as  His  eter- 
nity, and  lonely,  in  the  same  sense,  as  His  immensity  must 
ever  have  been,  His  self-communion  has  been  sufficient  to 
occupy  and  replenish  the  whole  with  happiness.  And  incon- 
ceivably great  as  the  end  answered  by  this  infinity  and 
immensity  of  perfection  must  have  been.  His  own  enjoyment 
and  glory  are  amply  commensurate  to  the  whole. 

8.  But  if  he  has  always  been  His  own  end,  it  follows  that 
He  must  ever  continue  to  be  the  same.  For  on  the  supposi- 
tion of  any  other  object  becoming  that  end,  then  all  that  had 
gone  before  during  the  past  eternity  could  only  be  regarded  as 
its  own  end  in  a  subordinate  sense  ;  while  in  reference  to  this 
other  end  since  developed,  it  has  been  only  the  means.  "  That 
which  exists  merely  as  a  cause,  exists  merely  for  the  sake  of 
something  else  —  is  not  final  in  itself,  but  simply  a  means  to- 
wards an  end  ;  and  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  end,  it  con- 
summates its  own  perfection."  From  which  it  would  follov/, 
that,  during  a  whole  eternity.  Infinite  Self-sufficience  stood  in 
the  subordinate  relation  of  means  to  beings  not  yet  in  exist- 
ence ;  that  during  that  eternity  Infinite  Perfection  was  imper- 
fect as  the  means  without  the  end ;  and  that  the  addition  of 
imperfect  and  dependent  being  was  necessary  to  give  perfec- 
tion to  that  imperfection. 

9.  K  to  be  His  own  end  be  an  antecedent  right,  antecedent 
to  creation  by  an  eternity ;  and  if,  after  enjoying  that  right  for 
an  eternity.  He  choose  to  exercise  another  right  —  the  right 
of  creation  —  the  exercise  of  tliis  subsequent  and  inferior 
right  cannot  affect  the  primary  eternal  right.  The  display  of 
Divine  perfection  can  never  impair  the  original  prerogatives 
of  that  perfection.  That  He  should  lose  his  right,  because 
of  his  perfection,  is  revolting  to  reason.  Render  his  prerogji- 
tives  more  evident  it  may,  but  destroy  them  it  cannot.  For 
glorious  as  that  display  may  be,  and  after  it  has  been  augment- 
ing ten  thousand  ages,  His  absolute  perfection  will  remain  the 
same  as  it  was  before  that  display  began.  That  manifestation 
will  not  have  increased  it ;  for  it  will  be  only  the  objective  ex- 
istence of  that  which  was  His  subjectively  from  eternity. 
Lofty  as  may  be  the  natures,  and  countless  as  may  be  the 
myriads  which  will  encircle  His  throne,  He  must  ever  continue 
to  dwell  as  perfectly  alone,  in  a  sense,  through  the  eternity  to 
come,  as  He  did  through  the  sublime  and  appalling  solitude  of 
the  eternity  past.  On  account  of  His  incomparable  greatness 
and  excellence,  never  will  He  be  able  to  bring  himself  within 

2* 


18  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

their  comprehension.  However  exalted  their  natures  and 
attainments  may  be,  the  universe  will  still  exhibit  the  infinite 
distinction  of  the  One  unlimited  being,  and  of  orders  of  limited 
beings  entirely  dependent  on  Him.  Retired  within  the  depths 
of  his  own  immensity,  they  will  never  be  able  to  approach 
and  behold  Him  directly.  For  all  they  know  of  Him,  they 
will  ever  feel  that  they  are  indebted  to  a  medium  of  His  own 
devising ;  and  that,  without  that  medium,  the  whole  created 
universe  including  themselves,  would  only  have  constituted  a 
living  altar  with  this  inscription,  "  To  the  unknown  God." 

10.  Whatever  excellence,  natural  or  moral,  the  created  uni- 
verse may  ever  contain,  was  contained  previously  in  the 
Divine  Nature.  Surely  His  impartation  of  it  cannot  give 
away  his  right  in  it !  Rather,  He  will  be  laying  the  recipients 
under  an  obligation  to  love  Him  as  its  Giver,  and  to  adore 
Him  as  its  Source.  However  vast  the  amount  of  excellence 
may  be,  it  will  still  be  limited,  so  that  they  will  have  to 
remember  at  any  given  moment  of  their  unending  befeg,  that 
they  are  still  infinitely  short  of  His  excellence.  However 
vast  and  various  the  displays  of  His  glory  may  be,  they  will 
ever  have  to  remember  that  the  universe  wliich  displays  it 
leaves  more  unevolve-d  and  undisplayed,  by  an  infinite 
amount.  However  much  they  may  be  able  to  comprehend  of 
what  He  is,  from  what  He  has  done  since  they  came  into  be- 
ing, they  will  ever  have  to  remember  that  all  the  eternity  of 
His  past  glory  remains  unexplored.  And  unless  they  could 
exhaust  the  mystery  of  the  Divine  perfections  during  every 
moment  since  they  came  into  being,  they  will  ever  have  to 
remember  that  the  mystery  is  every  moment  augmenting  in 
their  hands ;  that  time  is  adding  its  mystery  to  the  mystery 
of  the  past  eternity ;  and  that  the  mystery  of  both  is  to  be 
carried  forwards  to  the  still  greater  account  of  the  eternity  to 
come.  However  various  the  orders  of  their  intellect  may  be, 
here  they  will  all  find  themselves  on  a  level ;  here  they  will  all 
and  ever  find  that  to  reflect  is  to  be  lost ;  that  the  very  choicest 
terras  which  they  may  employ  to  denote  their  knowledge 
of  God,  will  be  only  so  many  tacit  confessions  of  their  igno- 
rance, and  escapes  from  difficulty ;  since  to  speak  of  Him  as 
eternal,  is  only  to  say  that  His  duration  had  not,  like  theirs,  a 
beginning ;  and  to  speak  of  Him  as  infinite,  that  His  nature  is 
not,  like  theirs,  bounded  by  limits. 

11.  Nor  will  they  ever  cease  to  be  entirely  dependent  on 
riim.     Suppose  their  creation  had  yet  to  connnence,  and  we 


THE    GREAT    REASON.  19 

may  ask,  How  can  they  be  ever  otherwise  than  dependent  ? 
During  the  eternity  past,  that  question  has  never  by  possibihty 
been  raised ;  for  He  has  existed,  and,  as  to  anything  ad  extra, 
still  remains  alone.  By  what  possibility,  then,  can  it  ever  be 
raised  in  the  eternity  to  come  ?  The  fact  that  God  has  been 
His  own  end  in  all  the  past  determines  the  question  for  all  the 
future.  Whence  could  ever  come  the  principle  or  the  power 
which  should  invade,  even  in  thought,  this  Divine  prerogative, 
unquestioned  and  undisturbed  as  it  has  been  from  eternity  ? 
Surely  not  from  any  being  of  whom  it  is  true  that  he  has  yet 
to  be ;  and  as  to  whom  the  question  whether  he  shall  ever  be 
or  not,  depends  entirely  on  the  Divine  pleasure;  and  who, 
even  if  it  be  the  Divine  pleasure  that  he  shall  be,  will  be  as 
entirely  dependent  on  the  same  pleasure  for  every  successive 
moment  of  being,  as  he  was  for  the  first  moment !  The  idea 
of  such  a  being,  or  of  any  number  of  such  beings,  entering 
into,  and  taking  possession  of  the  place  which  for  an  eternity 
had  been  occupied  by  God,  as  constituting  his  own  end,  is 
revolting  to  reason.  The  necessity  of  their  own  nature  will 
forbid  it.  The  only  relation  Avhich  that  necessity  will  sustain 
to  Him  is  that  of  dependence  more  profound,  universal,  and 
absolute,  than  they  will  ever  be  able  to  comprehend  ;  while 
the  relation  of  His  own  nature  to  that  end  will  always  be, 
what  it  ever  has  been  —  that  of  self-sufiicience. 

12.  And  as  His  infinite  self-sufficience  necessitated  that  He 
should  be  His  own  end  during  the  eternity  past,  the  uiKihange- 
ableness  of  His  nature  secures  the  same  result  during  the 
eternity  to  come.  What  He  was.  He  is,  and  what  He  was 
and  is,  He  ever  will  be.  However  many  worlds  or  systems 
He  may  create,  they  will  never  do  more  than  display  the  na- 
ture of  His  perfection,  they  can  never  be  the  measure  of  its 
amount,  much  less  limit  that  amount.  Now,  were  He  to  make 
only  a  solitary  being,  that  being  could  never  think  that  Go<l 
existed,  and  had  existed  from  all  eternity,  for  him  —  and  why .? 
because  he  would  ever  feel  that  God  is  infinitely  above  him. 
But  no  multiplication  of  mere  finite  beings  will  ever  make  an 
infinite  being ;  and  consequently  can  never  affect  the  right  of 
God  to  be  the  end  of  all  things.  On  the  contrary,  the  greater 
their  multiplication,  the  more  evident  his  claim,  because  they 
would  feel  the  more  vividly  that  the  difference  between  them, 
the  limited,  and  Him,  the  unlimited,  is  still  infinite ;  and  that 
after  they  shall  have  continued  to  advance  through  intermina- 
ble a"-es  from  throne  to  throne,  and  shall  have  come  nearer  to 


20  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

Him  at  every  such  advance,  the  distance  between  Him  and 
them  is  still  infinite  —  that  God  is  all  in  all. 

And  thus  we  reach  the  conclusion,  from  the  eternal  self- 
sufficiency  of  God,  that  He  must  ever  be  His  own  End ;  or 
that  His  nature  and  glory  form  the  Great  Reason  of  the  uni- 
verse. For  there  was  no  reason  ivhy  it  should  be,  nor  what  it 
should  be,  but  what  existed  in  Himself. 


CHAPTER   n. 


The  Ultijiate  Purpose  ;  or,  the  manifestation  of  the  Di- 
vine all-sufficiency  the  last  end  of  creation. 

The  preceding  Chapter  showed  that  for  the  great  reason  of 
His  eternal  self-sufficience,  God  will  ever  be,  what  He  always 
has  been,  His  own  end.  But  if  He  be  thus  absolutely  self- 
sufficient  and  infinitely  perfect,  it  follows  that  He  is  all-suffi- 
cient. By  which  we  mean,  generally,  that,  from  eternity.  He 
has  included  in  himself  all  that  is  or  ever  will  be  necessary  to 
impart  (consistently  with  infinite  perfection)  existence  and 
ever-advancing  excellence,  and  happiness,  to  a  created  uni- 
verse. And  the  object  of  the  present  Chapter  is  to  show  that 
the  manifestation  of  this  glory,  by  which  we  mean  all-suffi- 
ciency, is  the  great  purpose  or  ultimate  end  of  creation. 

I.  Such  a  manifestation  appears  to  involve  the  following 
conditions :  — 

1.  That  the  manifestation  be  progressive.  For  surely  a 
system  wliich  is  always  in  progress  both  in  its  own  develop- 
ment, and  in  the  powers  of  the  beings  to  whom  it  is  made 
known  and  who  form  a  part  of  it,  must,  by  the  endless  com- 
binations which  it  involves,  furnish  an  inconceivably  severer 
test  of  Divine  all-sufficiency,  than  one  which  should  be  in 
every  respect  stationary  from  the  beginning. 
_  And  this  anticipates  and  answers  the  plausible  but  incon- 
siderate inquiry,  "  If  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  all-suffi- 
ciency be  infinitely  desirable,  would  it  not  be  er^ually  desirable 


THE    ULTIMATE    PURPOSE.  21 

that  the  greatest  possible  extent  should  be  given  to  the  crea- 
tion, and  be  given  at  once ;  since,  until  that  be  done,  how 
can  it  be  known  that  God  is  all-sufficient  ?  "  In  other  words, 
an  infinite  cause  should  produce  an  infinite  effect. 

We  reply,  that  an  exercise  of  the  Divine  perfections  prop- 
erly "infinite  can  only  take  place  in  the  Divine  nature  itself; 
and  possibly  involves  the  mystery  of  a  plurality  of  distinctions 
in  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  to  and  by  which  that  display  is 
mutually  made :  that  were  such  an  infinite  manifestation  to  be 
nmde,  ad  extra,  unless  the  mind  of  the  creature  were  adequate 
to  its  comprehension  —  i.  e.  were  infinite  —  the  manifestation 
to  the  creature  would  be   limited,  limited  to  the   measure  of 
his  understanding :  and  that  hence,  for  aught  we  know,  the 
manifestation  of   God  made  in    an  atom,  while  to  us  it  is 
extremely  limited,  to  Him  who  sees  the  end  from  the  begin- 
ning may  be  virtually  and  potentially  infinite.    So  that,  (if  the 
hypothesis  may  be  allowed,)  were  it  possible  to  present  such  a 
particle  to  Him  from  the  hand  of  another  maker,  He  could 
say,  "  The  being  from  whom  this  came  is  infinite,  eternal,  self- 
existent,  and  absolutely  perfect.     His  titles  are  here  all  writ- 
ten out  at  full  length,  and  his  perfections  embodied.     He  is 
all-sufficient.     This  atom-point  is  the  type  and  promise  of  an 
ever-enlarging  and  unbounded  universe.     It  contains  poten- 
tially all  that  the  material  universe  will  ever  exhibit  actually. 
No  additions  to  this  atom-world  could  ever  add  to  my  knowl- 
edge of  him.     To  me  the   manifestation   is   complete."     We 
reply  further ;  the  inquirer  is  evidently  thinking  of  an  all-suffi- 
ciency of  power  only,  whereas  we    are  speaking   of  an  all- 
sufficiency   of     perfection,   including    wisdom,   holiness,   and 
benevolence,  as  well  as  power.     As  to  the  production  of  an 
unlimited  effect,  ad  extra,  the  supposition  of  such  a  thing,  as 
far  as  it  can  be  understood,  is  an  impossibility.     For,  first,  it 
would  involve  the  contradiction  of  two  infinities  —  the  infinite 
cause  and  the   infinite  effect;  in   which  case,  the  one  must 
limit  the  other,  so  that  neither  would  be  unlimited ;  or,  second- 
ly, it  would  imply  the  contradiction  of  an  unlimited  something 
brought  within  limits,  the  hmits  of  time  ;  and,  thirdly,  it  would 
involve  the  absurdity  of  an  independent  dependence  —  of  an 
effect  not  dependent  on  any  cause  —  for  if  dependent,  in  that 
respect,  the  most  vital  of  all,  it  would  be  limited. 

2.  But  to  say  what  would  be  necessary  to  the  full  manifes- 
tation of  all-sufficiency,  is  a  task  to  which  none  but  all-suffi- 
ciency itself  can  be  competent ;  since  it  supposes  a  manifestation 


22  THE   PRE-ADAanTE    EARTH. 

continued  through  eternity.  Here,  then,  is  another  condition 
of  the  manifestation,  that  it  be  unending.  For  if  it  should 
terminate  at  any  given  point  in  futurity,  the  proof  of  all-suffi- 
ciency for  an  eternal  manifestation  would  terminate  with  it ; 
and  then  the  suspicion  might  be  justly  awakened,  that  if  the 
manifestation  had  gone  on,  a  crisis  might  have  arrived  for 
which  the  Deity  might  not  have  been  sufficient.  Besides 
which,  all-sufficiency,  from  its  very  nature,  requires  infinity 
and  eternity  in  which  to  be  developed,  for  it  implies  sufficiency 
for  nothing  less  than  that.  And  it  requires  the  same,  from 
the  very  nature  and  constitution  of  those  to  whom  the  mani- 
festation is  to  be  made;  for  they  are  capable  of  interminable 
progression.  To  the  objector  then  who  should  call  for  an  un- 
limited effect  in  proof  of  Divine  all-sufficiency,  we  would  simply 
reply,  that  when  he  shall  have  existed  for  an  unlimited  dura- 
tion, he  may  consistently  expect  to  behold  it. 

Considering  the  constitution  of  the  beings  to  whom  the 
manifestation  is  to  be  made,  in  connection  with  the  infinite  per- 
fection of  the  Bemg  who  is  to  make  it,  such  a  manifestation, 
then,  would  seem  to  require  that  it  should  be  progressive  and 
unending ;  in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  go  along  step 
by  step  with  the  great  development ;  to  hang  over  tlie  mighty 
process,  and  mark  how  the  attainment  of  one  end  attains  a 
number  of  inferior  ones  placed  in  a  line  with  it ;  how  part  is 
linked  to  part ;  how  the  evolution  of  one  part  tends  to  the 
evolution  of  another  part,  contains  the  promise  of  it,  leads  to 
It,  and  predicts  another  and  another  yet ;  so  that  all-sutRciency 
is  perpetually  making  fresh  demands  on  itself,  and  illustrating 
Itself  by  perpetually  meeting  those  demands  in  a  way  demon- 
strative of  all-sufficiency,  constraining  them  to  acknowledge 
that  it  has  no  limits. 

The  remark,  then,  that  the  manifestation,  not  being  object- 
ively completed  at  once,  cannot  be  regarded  as  worthy  of  God, 
admits  of  the  most  satisfactory  reply ;  for,  to  aUege  no  other 
reason,  it  is  a  manifestation  for  a  purpose  — ^o  he  understood; 
and  Its  gradual  development  is  that  wliich  especially  adapts  it 
to  this  end.  The  objection  would  hold  only  on  the  supposition 
tliat  the  manifestation  was  not  made  rapidly  enough  for  the 
rapid  mental  and  moral  progress  of  the  beings  for  whom  it 
was  made  — did  not  keep  pace  with  their  advancing  powers 
of  comprehension  and  appreciation.  For  if  it  does  meet  those 
demands,  to  them,  in  efiect,  it  will  be  always  unHmited  and 
virtually  inlimte.    Had  such  a  thing  been  possible,  then,  that 


THE    ULTIMATE   PURPOSE.  23 

it  could  have  been  completed  at  once,  man  would  not  have 
known  more  of  it  ten  tjiousand  ages  hence,  than  he  will  at  the 
same  distant  point  of  time,  now  that  it  is  progressive.  While, 
at  every  stage  of  his  knowledge,  to  him,  in  effect,  the  display 
will  have  been  infinite  and  complete ;  for  the  limits  of  his 
comprehension  will  be  always  unspeakably  within  the  limits 
of  the  manifestation  at  its  every  stage.  We  have  said  that,  in 
the  case  supposed,  he  would  not  have  known  more  ten  thou- 
sand ages  hence  than  he  will  now  by  a  progressive  manifesta- 
tion. But  we  advance  further,  and  remark,  that  one  of  the 
reasons  of  this  progressiveness  is  that,  in  the  case  supposed, 
he  would  not  have  known  so  much.  Nor,  as  we  shall  hereaf- 
ter show,  would  his  knowledge  have  equally  availed  him,  for 
it  would  not  have  been  the  knowledge  of  observation  and  ex- 
perience. Experience  supposes  a  process,  and  a  process 
requires  time,  and  implies  advance  from  one  stage  to  another. 
3.  And  a  third  condition  of  this  manifestation  appears  to  be 
that  it  be  all-comprehending  —  including  the  revelation  of  every- 
thing essential  to  the  Divine  nature,  and  provision  for  every 
crisis  in  the  onward  history  of  the  creature,  as  well  as  the 
union  and  cooperation  of  all  orders  of  being  to  the  one  great 
end.  If  there  be  distinctions  as  well  as  perfections  in  the 
Godhead,  and  if  it  would  be  for  the  glory  of  God  to  reveal 
them,  sooner  or  later  they  must  be  disclosed ;  otherwise  the 
manifestation  would  not  be  sufficient  in  this  infinitely  impor- 
tant particular.  Again,  if  this  all-sufficiency  implies  the 
power  of  meeting  every  crisis ;  and  should  the  creature  ever 
come  by  some  dreadful  possibility  to  question  the  Divine  all- 
sufficiency  —  which  would  be  sin  —  the  Deity,  by  the  very 
fact  of  being  able  to  meet  that  moral  crisis,  would  be  demon- 
strating the  all-sufficiency  called  in  question.  And  still  further 
would  this  Divine  perfection  appear  to  be  illustrated,  if,  in  an- 
swering one  end,  it  accomplished  many,  in  sketching  before- 
hand the  great  outlines  of  the  Divine  procedure ;  and  should 
there  be  different  orders  of  accountable  beings,  in  including 
and  uniting  them  together  as  voluntary  and  organic  parts  of 
the  one  great  system. 

n.  Here,  however,  it  may  be  asked,  whether  this  does  not 
imply  that,  until  this  all-sufficiency  be  made  manifest,  there 
must  be  something  wanting  to  the  Divine  glory  which  that 
manifestation  is  necessary  to  acquire  for  it ;  and  that  as  that 
all-sufficiency   was   not  displayed  for  an  eternity,  therefore 


24  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

something  was  eternally  wanting  to  the  completion  of  that 
glory?  We  reply,  that  the  display  of'tliis  all-sufficiency  is  no 
actual  augmentation  of  God's  essential  glory,  but  only  the 
objective  manifestation  of  excellence  which  existed  and  acted 
subjectively  from  eternity ;  and  that  the  fact  that  He  should 
have  existed  from  eternity  without  manifesting  it  to  the 
creature,  arises  solely  from  the  infinite  perfection  of  His  own 
nature  which  is  uncommencing,  and  from  the  unavoidable  im- 
perfection of  created  natures  which  necessarily  imply  a  begin- 
ning. His  all-sufficience  was  necessary  to  the  idea  of  his 
self-sufficience,  and  was  included  in  it.  The  objection,  then, 
can  acquire  force  only  by  erroneously  supposing  that,  having 
purposed  to  manifest  His  all-sufficiency,  there  was  yet  (as  is 
often  the  case  with  human  purposes)  a  doubt  as  to  whether  or 
not  it  would  be  carried  into  effect :  but  let  it  be  remembered 
that  we  are  speaking  of  all-sufficiency,  and  the  objection  turns 
into  absurdity.  Further,  if  the  objection  have  any  force  with 
respect  to  the  eternity  past,  it  has  the  same  still,  and  will  have 
the  same  through  all  the  eternity  to  come ;  since  the  manifes- 
tation of  all-sufficiency  can  never,  from  the  very  nature  of 
all-sufficiency,  come  to  an  end  —  and  herein  consists  its  perfec- 
tion. Moreover,  there  is  not  a  particle  of  being  or  of  excel- 
lence in  existence  now  more  than  existed  potentially  from 
eternity,  since  the  whole  objective  universe  is  the  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  being  and  excellence.  Great  and  real  as  is 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Deity  in  the  existence  and  happiness 
of  his  creatures,  the  perfection  of  His  nature  forbids  that  it 
should  ever  have  had  to  begin.  There  can  never  have  been 
a  point  in  past  duration  in  which  His  purpose  has  not  made 
such  existence  and  happiness  certain,  or  in  which  His  om- 
niscience has  not  made  it  present  to  His  mind  as  an  object 
of  ineffable  delight.  Besides  which,  however  much  of  the 
Divine  excellence  be  made  objective,  such  manifestation  must 
always  fall  short  of  the  reality  to  an  infinite  amount.  And, 
then,  the  infinite  desirableness,  of  such  a  manifestation  includes 
and  supposes  the  infinite  desirableness  of  all  the  conditions  of 
the  manifestation ;  so  that  any  alteration  would  be  not  only 
infinitely  undesirable,  but  would  be  so  for  this  very  reason, 
that  it  would  not  be  a  manifestation  of  Divine  all-sufficienee. 

in.  From  the  preceding  section,  and  from  what  has  been 
advanced  in  the  preceding  cliapter,  it  is  evident  that  if  a  crea- 
tion take  place,  it  can  be  only  by  the  voluntary  act  of  the 


THE    ULTIMATE    TURPOSE.  25 

(jfodliead.  To  say  tliat  God  creates  })y  a  natural  and  unavoid- 
able necessity,  is  to  deny  His  self-sufficience,  and  to  make  Him 
dependent  for  perfection  on  an  external  object ;  whereas  we 
have  seen  that  He  has  existed  from  eternity  in  a  state  of  in- 
finite perfection. 

Hypotheses  of  fate  and  necessity  have  not  been  wanting, 
indeed,  from  the  time  of  Anaximander  downwards.  Accord- 
ing to  him,  the  infinite  is  necessarily  an  ever-producing  energy, 
and,  as  such,  is  in  a  constant  state  of  incipiency.  The  neces- 
sary spiritualism  of  Leibnitz,  and  the  necessary  materialism 
of  Spinoza,  are  alike  hostile  to  the  Divine  free-will.  Hegel 
and  M.  Cousin,  have  defended  substantially  the  same  tenet. 
According  to  the  latter,  "  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
the  Deity  being  an  absolute  creative  force,  which  cannot  but 
pass  into  activity,  it  follows,  not  that  the  creation  is  possible, 
but  that  it  is  necessary."  Now  as  the  necessity  here  contended 
for,  is  not  that  moral  necessity  or  determination  which  arises 
from  the  choice  of  an  infinitely  perfect  Being,  but  a  physical 
or  natural  necessity,  it  has  been  ably  answered  that  "  to  what 
extent  a  thing  exists  necessarily  as  a  cause,  to  that  extent  it 
is  not  all-sufficient  to  itself;  for  to  that  extent  it  is  dependent 
on  the  effect,  as  on  the  condition  through  which  alone  it  real- 
izes its  existence ;  and  what  exists  absolutely  as  a  cause, 
exists,  therefore,  in  absolute  dependence  on  the  effect  for  the 
reality  of  its  existence.  An  absolute  cause,  in  truth,  only 
exists  in  its  effects  ;  it  never  is,  it  always  becomes"  ^ 

The  God  of  the  Bible,  on  the  contrary,  is  subject  neither  to 
the  necessity  of  acting,  ad  extra,  nor  to  the  necessity  of  not 
acting.  The  universe  has  been  created  for  his  "  pleasure  ; " 
not  from  a  necessity  which  He  could  not  physically  resist. 
And  whatever  takes  place  in  it  of  a  beneficial  nature,  takes 
place  "  according  to  the  jnirpose  of  Him  who  worketh  all  things 
according  to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will."  The  only  neces- 
sity, therefore,  which  can  be  regarded  as  obliging  Him  in 
respect  to  a  creation,  is  the  moral  necessity,  that  having 
freely  determined  to  create,  He  should  propose  an  adequate 
end,  and  employ  the  appropriate  means  for  its  attainment. 

IV.  Accordingly,  if  the  Deity  create,  it  seems  infinitely 
desirable  that  the  chief  and  ultimate  design  of  the  creation 

^  From  a  searching  and  masterly  review  .of  Cousin's  Cours  de  Phi' 
losophie,  in  the  Ediu.  liev.,  vol.  1.  p.  213. 
3 


26  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

should  be  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency — hy 
which  the  Divine  glory  should  appear  equal  to  all  thing-s,  even 
for  the  greatest  —  that  of  being  its  own  end. 

1.  For,  first,  in  the  very  nature  of  things,  all  thd  being,  ex- 
cellence, and  happiness,  which  can  ever  exist,  ad  extra,  and  by 
which  alone  the  Divine  manifestation  can  be  made,  virtually 
existed  from  eternity,  ad  intra.^  It  is  only  in  this  way  that 
they  can  manifest  Him ;  and  it  is  only  so  long,  therefore,  as 
they  remain  what  they  are  —  the  means  of  the  manifestation 
of  Himself —  that  they  answer  their  end ;  and  the  more  of 
them  there  is  in  the  creature,  the  more  do  they  answer  that 
end.  All  the  relations  which  may  ever  bind  created  beings 
together ;  the  laws  which  may  prescribe  the  duties  of  these 
relations ;  the  excellence  whicli,  by  obedience  to  these  laws, 
they  may  ever  possess  or  be  able  to  acquire  ;  and  the  happi- 
ness which,  as  the  result  of  this  excellence,  they  may  ever 
enjoy  —  all  potentially  existed  from  eternity  in  the  character 
and  mind  of  God,  and  existed  there  as  the  expression  of  His 
mind  and  character.  His  nature  is  the  fountain  of  the  whole. 
So  that  every  authoritative  tmnouncement  which  He  may 
make  that  such  and  such  is  His  will,  must  be  founded  in  the 
fact  that  such  and  such  is  His  nature.  From  the  all-compre- 
hending perfection  of  the  Divine  nature,  then,  the  manifesta- 
tion of  Divine  all-sufficiency  must  have  been  the  chief  and 
ultimate  design  of  creation. 

2.  But,  secondly,  as  God  does  nothing  which  He  does  not 
purpose,  and  as  the  manifestation  of  a  cause  is  necessarily  the 
first  end  answered  by  an  eiiect,  so  the  purpose  of  making  this 
manifestation  must  have  been,  in  its  own  right,  the  first  pur- 
pose in  the  mind  of  God.  To  speak,  indeed,  as  if  the  purposes 
of  God  observed  an  order  of  succession  in  the  Divine  mind,  is 
a  metaphysical  inconsistency ;  but  it  is  one  which  arises  from 
that  necessary  constitution  of  our  nature  by  which  we  can 
conceive  of  but  one  subject  at  a  time ;  and  by  wliich  we  con- 
ceive that  that  wliich  is  the  first  in  the  order  of  importance 
should  be,  with  a  perfect  Being,  the  first  in  the  order  of  in- 
tention. On  this  account  we  conclude  that  the  Divine  purpose 
relative  to  the  design  or  end  of  creation  must  have  been  the 
first  in  the  mind  of  God,  since  every  other  purpose  could  only 

^  Admirable  remarks  on  this  subject  may  be  found  in  Howe's  Living 
' 'mple,  part  i.  c.  iv.,  and  part  ii.  c.  ii. ;  and  in  Hooker's  Eccles.  Po'., 
b.  5.  • 


THE    ULTIMATE    PURPOSE.  27 

relate  to  tlie  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  end. 
What  we  call  the  various  purposes  of  God,  indeed,  are, 
properly  speaking,  only  parts  of  the  same  all-comprehending 
purpose ;  so  that  what  we  denominate  His  first  purpose,  in- 
cluded the  reason  of  all  His  other  purposes,  and  determined 
the  order  of  their  successive  development. 

When  we  say,  therefore,  that  every  other  purpose  could 
only  relate  to  the  means,  we  do  not  intend  that  God  had  only 
one  end  in  view  absolutely,  or  in  every  sense.  ^  It  seems  to 
be  necessary,  in  order  to  satisfy  our  idea  of  all-sufficiency, 
that,  in  accomplishing  one  end,  it  should  be  answering  many. 
For  instance,  that  the  very  creation  of  the  beings  to  whom  the 
manifestation  should  be  made,  should  involve  in  itself  a  grand 
part  of  the  manifestation ;  that  even  the  globe  prepared  to 
receive  them,  and  to  be  the  theatre  of  the  majiifestation, 
should  contain  in  itself  some  of  the  elements  of  that  manifes- 
tation ;  that  the  well-being  of  the  creature  should  furnish  the 
chief  occasion  for  displaying  that  all-sufhciency ;  and  that  the 
very  questioning  of  that  all-sufiiciency,  and  the  first  obstruc- 
tion offered  to  it,  should  bring  with  it  the  very  occasion  wanted 
to  evolve  and  demonstrate  that  all-sufficiency,  and  to  augment 
the  happiness  of  the  creature :  so  that  the  well-being  of  the 
creature  should  be  as  secure  of  attainment  as  if  it  were  the 
chief  and  only  end  aimed  at,  since  it  is  coincident  with  that 
end ;  —  all  these  are  designs  worthy  of  Divine  all-sufficiency. 
Although,  then,  in  relation  to  the  chief  end,  every  other  end  is 
subordinate  and  a  means,  viewed  apart  from  that  chief  end, 
many  of  the  means  themselves  become  important  ends ;  and 
it  seems,  we  repeat,  worthy  of  Divine  all-sufficiency  that  in 
answering  its  own  great  end,  it  should  be  accomplishing  many 
subordinate  ones. 

3.  And,  thirdly,  the  well-being  of  the  creature  required  that 
the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency  should  be  the 
ultimate  design  of  God  in  creation.  JNext  in  importance  to  this 
design,  is  that  well-being  itself.  And  hence,  some  would  incon- 
siderately regard  that  as  the  ultimate  end  of  creation.  But  if, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency 
must  be,  in  its  own  right,  the  chief  end  of  creation,  the  very 
Avell-being  of  the  creature  required  that  no  other  end,  not  even 
his  own  well-being,  should  be  that  end.     For  if  the  creatur(j 

'  Sec  President  Edwards's  Treatise  on  God's  chief  End  in  Creation. — 
IntroducLorij  Paragraphs. 


28  THE   PRE-ADA3IITE    EARTH. 

be  himself  a  part  of  that  manifestation,  he  is,  in  so  far,  a 
means  to  that  end  His  excellence  consists  in  that  resem- 
blance to  God  by  which  he  is  constituted  a  part  of  that  mani- 
festation ;  and  if  he  be  an  intelligent  being,  his  happiness 
consists  in  his  perceiving  that  resemblance,  and  in  being  con- 
scious that  he  is  answering  that  end  of  his  existence.  The 
character  of  his  every  act  depends  on  its  correspondence  with 
that  end.  The  value  of  every  being  is  to  be  estimated  by  its 
capabilities  for  answering  that  end.  And  the  truth  of  every 
system  or  theory,  is  to  be  tested  by  the  fact  whether  or  not  it 
contemplates  that  end,  and  attaches  to  it  the  same  importance 
which  God  does.  For  if  that  end  be  infinitely  greater  than 
all  the  subordinate  ones  taken  together ;  then  that  theory  of 
things  which  takes  no  note  of  that  end,  or  which  assigns  it 
only  an  inferior  place,  must  be  faulty  to  a  much  greater  de- 
gree than  any  arithmetical  calculation  which  professes  to 
give  the  sum  total  of  a  number  of  figures,  but  which  casts  up 
only  the  fractions  and  omits  the  integers. 

A  holy  intelligence,  therefore,  could  not  be  happy  under  an 
arrangement  which  should  make  his  own  happiness  the  chief 
end  of  creation,  unless  he  were  quite  ignorant  of  the  infinite 
perfection  of  God.  But  however  happy  he  might  be  in 
that  ignorance,  it  would  be  only  necessary  to  disclose  to  him 
a  sight  of  that  perfection  in  order  to  render  him  unhappy ; 
for  he  would  clearly  see  that  he  could  be  his  own  end  only  at 
the  expense  of  right,  and  that  would  render  him,  as  a  righte- 
ous being,  miserable.  His  own  happiness,  then,  would  re- 
quire that  he  should  be  subordinated  to  the  higher  end  —  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  glory ;  for  he  would  see  that  his 
well-being  consisted  in  it  —  that  he  was  made  for  it.  So  that 
could  the  great  question  be  referred  to  the  arbitration  of  the 
holy  universe,  with  one  voice  they  would  instantly  exclaim, 
"  Thou  art  worthy,  O  Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honour,  and 
power ;  for  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  Thy  pleasure 
they  are  and  were  created.  For  of  Him,  and  through  Him, 
and  to  Him  are  all  things  ;  to  Him  be  glory  for  ever.  Amen." 
Thus  the  verdict  of  the  intelligent  universe  coincides  with  the 
primary  purpose  of  the  Infinite  Mind  —  that  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency  ts  the  ultimate  end  of  cre- 
ation. The  work  is  dedicated  to  Himself :  ^^AU  His  works 
praise  Him." 

And  thus,  from  llie  Eternal  Self-suificience,  we  reach  the 
grand  conclusion  that  God  must  be  His  own  end,  or  thai  His 


THE    FUNDAMENTAL    RELATION.  29 

infinitely-perfect  nature  is  the  great  reason  of  the  universe ; 
and  from  a  consideration  of  His  all-sufficiency,  that  His  glory, 
in  creation,  consists  in  the  manifestation  of  His  all-sufficiency, 
and  that  His  display  of  this  is  His  primary  and  all-compre- 
hendinof  design. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

The  Fundamental  Relation  ;  or,  the  manifestation  of  the 
Divine  all-sufliciency,  mediatorial. 

God  having  determined  on  the  display  of  His  all-sufficiency 
as  the  end  of  creation,  the  next  part  of  His  purpose  related  to 
the  constitution  of  a  medium,  or  system  of  mediation,  as  the 
only  condition  on  which  and  through  which  the  manifestation 
was  to  be  made. 

Let  it  be  observed,  that  we  do  not  here  restrict  the  meaning 
of  the  term  mediation  to  the  principal  or  evangelical  sense. 
We  now  employ  the  term  as  equivalent  to  medial,  or  that 
which  intervenes  between  the  purpose  of  God  and  its  accom- 
plishment, as  the  means  of  that  accomplishment.  While  v/e 
regard  the  Atonement,  therefore,  as  the  great  distinctive  act 
of  moral  mediation,  and  as  that  to  which  all  preceding  acts 
of  creation  and  providence  were  only  introductory,  we  now 
employ  the  term  in  reference  to  these  preparatory  acts  as  well 
as  to  that  great  act  of  moral  mediation. 

I.  And  we  find,  first,  that  the  constitution  of  the  universe 
is  mediatorial.  The  creation  is  represented  in  Scripture  as 
owing  its  actual  existence  and  well-being  from  first  to  last,  not 
to  the  invisible  and  absolute  God  directly,  but  indirectly,  on 
account  of  the  assumed  relation  and  voluntary  agency  of  one 
who  stands  medially  or  mediatorially  between  Him  and  the 
dependent  universe.  "  He  created  all  things  by  Jesus  Christ 
according  to  the  eternal  purpose  which  He  pur- 
posed in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord."  "  By  Him  (the  Mediator) 
were  all  things  created  that  are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in 
earth,  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones  or  do- 
3* 


30  THE    PRE-ADA?.IITE    EARTH. 

minions,  or  principalities  or  powers ;  all  things  were  created 
by  Him  and  for  Him ;  and  He  is  before  all  things,  and  by 
Him  all  things  consist." 

II.  Accordingly,  we  find,  in  the  second  place,  that  the  insti- 
tution of  the  medial,  or  mediatorial  relation,  preceded  the  first 
act  of  creation,  and  was  the  medium  of  it.  .  For,  "  in  the  be- 
ginning was  the  Word,  (or  Logos,)  and  the  Logos  was  with 
God,  and  the  Logos  Avas  God.  This  (Logos)  was  in  the  be- 
ginning with  God.  All  things  were  made  by  Ilim,  and  with- 
out Him  was  not  anything  made  that  has  been  made."  In 
verification  of  our  second  proposition  we  remark  that  it  is  here 
stated, 

1.  That  the  Logos  is. in  some  sense  distinct  from  o  Oi-bg,for 
He  was  with  6  Geog.  Besides  which,  His  personal  subsist- 
ence is  manifest  from  the  attributes  of  intelligence  and  active 
power  which  are  here  ascribed  to  Him. 

2.  That  He  sustained  a  relation  of  peculiar  intimacy  and 
union  with  6  Osog,  for  He  was  TiQog  top  Otov ;  nQog^  equiva- 
lent here  to  naqa,  governing  the  dative,  and  denoting  rest  in  a 
place  or  an  object.  But  we  are  by  no  means  dependent  on  a 
single  proof.  Passages  to  the  same  effect  are  so  numerous  as 
to  require  selection.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  language  — 
"  the  glory  which  I  had,  Tiuoa  aol,  with  Thee,  before  the  v/orld 
was."  And  the  compound  term  }JoroyEVi)g  —  the  only-hegotten 
Son  —  which  occurs  lour  times  ;  and  "  the  only-begotten  Son 
who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father  ;  "  denoting  a  relation  abso- 
lutely unique  and  exclusive,  and  a  state  of  the  most  perfect 
conjunction  of  knowledge,  happiness,  and  nature. i 

3.  That  He  was  Himself  God,  for  (->£o.v  ijv  6  loyog.  The 
connection  of  this  clear  affirmation  with  the  preceding  clause 
may  be  expressed  thus  —  "The  Word  was  with  God,  in 
such  a  manner,  that,  in  fact,  the  Word  was  God."  Other 
proofs  to  the  same  effect  might  be  easily  adduced. 

4.  That  of  everything  brought  into  existence.  He,  in  dis- 
tinction from  0  (:)tog,  was  the  actual  Maker.  "All  things 
were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was  not  anything  made 
that  was  made."  The  allh-mation  is  here  followed  by  the  ne- 
gation, after  the  Hebrew  manner,  in  order  the  more  emphati- 

*  Autlioritics  corroljorative  of  these  views  might  be  cited  to  almost 
any  extent ;  and  some  of  them  by  no  means  unfriendly  to  Neologist  doc- 


THE    FUNDAMENTAL    RELATION.  31 

cally  to  declare  that  every  created  thing  originated  with 
Him ;  and,  to  create,  is  the  scriptural  demonstration  of 
Deity. 

5.  And  therefore  that  the  relation  or  office  in  virtue  of 
which  He  created  all  things  preceded  the  tirst  act  of  crea- 
tion. For  Iv  (iQxfi — ^'^  f^i^  beginning  —  equivalent  to  the 
Hebrew  n'^ii'S'ia  —  even  then  He  already  riv  —  was.  The  as- 
sertion of  His  pre-existence  is  included  alike  in  uQiri  and  in 
//y.  For  when  every  created  thing  had  yet  to  be,  He  already 
tvas.  He  comprehends  every  beginning  in  Himself.'  As 
passages,  parallel,  in  this  particular,  we  might  refer  to  Prov. 
viii.  23,  where  to  be  "  from  the  beginning  "  is  made  equivalent 
with  being  "  from  everlasting,  or  ever  the  earth  was,"  and  to 
Isaiah  xliii.  12,  13,  and  Hab.  i.  12,  where  to  be  Jro?/^  the  begin- 
ning is  regarded  as  the  peculiar  prerogative  of  the  eternal  and 
self-existent  God.  And  yet,  this  ante-beginning,  or  unbegin- 
ning  existence  is  here  predicated  of  the  Logos,  not  once  only ; 
in  the  second  verse  it  is  repeated  —  "  this  (Word)  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God."  As  if  He  had  said,  "  This  is  a  truth 
of  the  lirst  importance,  and  I  therefore  repeat  it,  that  when 
creation  had  yet  to  begin  to  be,  the  Divine  Logos  existed  in  a 
state  of  perfect  union  with  the  Divine  Nature."^  For,  "  He  is 
before  all  things,  and  by  Him  all  things  consist."  Thus  In- 
spiration, leading  us  back  to  the  beginning  of  all  created 
things,  points  us  to  the  existence  of  that  medial  relation  which 
preceded  creation,  and  was  the  means  of  its  actual  origin. 

III.  And,  thirdly,  as  the  primary  purpose  of  God  is  the 
manifestation  of  Divine  all-sufficiency,  this  primary  official  re- 
lation is  represented  as  in  coincidence  with,  and  subservience 
to,  that  purpose.  This  is  indicated  by  the  very  meaning  of 
the  appellation  Logos,  whether  examined  philologically,  histori- 
cally, or  exegetically. 

1.  It  might  be  asked,  "May  not  o  Xoyog  stand philologicallT/, 
as  abstract  for  concrete,  for  6  Ib'yoov  —  the  speaker  or  teach- 
er ?  "  To  which  we  reply  that  )Jy£(v  does  not  signify  directly 
to  teach  ;  and  Xoyog  has  only  in  an  indirect  manner  the  mean- 
ing of  doctrine.     Much  more  proper  would  it  be  to  understand 


^  Qui  in  pvincipio  erat,  intra  se  concludit  omne  principium. — Aug. 
Serm.  vi.  —  De  Temp. 

^  Dr.  J.  P.  Smith's  Scripture  Testimony  to  the  Messiah,  v.  iii.  c  ii. 
b.  iv. 


82  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

Xoyoi^  according  to  the  phraseology  of  Philo,  who  distmguisnes 
in  God  the  state  oi  ehat  —  bemg,  and  that  of  liyEod'ai  —  re- 
vealing Himself.  According  to  which  the  Logos  would  be 
the  Divine  Revealer.i 

2.  But  that  which  is  much  more  important  to  determine, 
here,  than  its  grammatical,  is  its  historical  sense.  For  the 
Evangelist  speaks  of  the  Logos  as  of  a  conception  already 
knowq,  and  which  he  takes  for  granted  his  readers  will  imme- 
diately connect  with  the  word.^  Now,  it  is  matter  of  history 
that  by  the  Logos  was  then  understood,  He  who  is  the  medium 
of  Divine  manifestation.  The  idea  of  such  a  medium  appears 
to  have  early  obtained  among  the  students  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures ;  and  from  them  to  have  extended  to  other  lands, 
till  in  one  forn»or  another,  the  idea  had  become  very  generally 
incorporated  with  Oriental  theology.  Traces  of  it  are  to  be 
found  scattered,  with  more  or  less  distinctness,  in  the  Apoc- 
rypha, in  Philo,  in  the  Cabalistic  Writings,  and  in  the  Chal- 
dee  Paraphrasts.  Li  the  last  of  these  especially  it  is  taught 
that  God  never  appears  acting  immediately  upon  the  world, 
but  always  through  the  m'^dium  of  another.  *  This  medium  of 
the  Divine  acts  is  called  the  Memra  of  Jali  — -  the  Word  of 
Jehovah.  And  although  the  phrase  is  sometimes  employed 
idiomatically,  to  signify  merely  the  Divine  Voice,  at  others,  it 
can  denote  nothing  less  than  a  distinct  personal  subsistence. 
While  in  Philo  the  doctrme  is  taught  that  the  Deity  has  de- 
veloped His  essence  through  His  highest  Reveaier,  the  Lo- 
gos, who  is  the  express  image  of  God  —  the  name  and  the 
shadow  of  God  —  a  representative  God. 

The  Evangelist,  aware  of  this  famihar  doctrine  of  Jewish 
theology,  declai-es  that  the  true  Logos  —  He  who  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  Logos  had  made  the  world  as  a  part  of  the  Divine 
manifestation,  has  really  and  historically  appeared  with  a  view 
to  a  yet  further  manifestation. 

3.  To  have  selected  so  unusual  a  word  as  Logos  in  order 
to  express  so  simple  an  idea  as  that  of  a  teacher  only,  would 
have  been,  exegetically  considered,  most  inappropriate.  Besides, 
the  idea  conveyed  is,  that  the  Being  intended  had,  in  His  ca- 
pacity of  Logos,  or,  of  the  Divine  Reveaier,  created  the  uni- 
verse; and  that   He  who   had   done   this   had  now  Himself 


'  See  Professor  Tholuck,  in  loc. 

^  See  Professor  Burton's  Bampton  Lecture. 


THE    FUNDAMENTAL   RELATION.  33 

appeared  to  carry  on  the  process  of  Divine  manifestation. 
Thus  understood — and  we  know  no  other  sense  in  which  we 
can  understand  it  —  how  admirably  descriptive  is  the  appella- 
tion, the  Logos,  of  Him  who  is  the  medium  of  the  Divine 
manifestation.  AVhat  speech  is  as  a  means  of  rational  com- 
munication between  one  mind  and  another,  that  is  the  Divine 
Logos  between  the  Invisible  Essence  and  all  created  minds. 
He  is  the  utterer  of  His  thoughts,  the  discloser  of  His  pur- 
poses, the  manifestation  of  His  character. 

Now  the  Being  who  sustains  this  relation  must  in  every 
respect  be  co-equal  with  God.  To  be  in  any  sense  inferior 
would  be  to  be  infinitely  inferior ;  in  which  case,  the  manifes- 
tation itself  would  be  limited  to  the  capacity  of  the  medium 
through  which  it  came,  and  consequently,  be  infi^iitely  inferior 
to  the  Divine  original.  Accordingly,  we  have  seen,  that  the 
Divine  Logos  is,  in  perfections,  as  in  name,  co-equal  with  the 
Father ;  he  has  been  with  Him,  and  has  so  been  with  Him  as 
to  be  one  with  Him,  from  eternity.  To  the  same  effect  are 
those  passages  of  Holy  Scripture  which  describe  Him  as  the 
Image  of  the  Invisible  God ;  as  the  Brightness  of  the  Father's 
Glory,  and  the  Exj)ress  Representation  of  His  Essence.  For 
as  the  internal  being  and  character  of  a  man  are  expressed  in 
his  face,  so  God  hath  given  us  the  knowledge  of  His  glory  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  doctrine  which  gives  to  these 
and  parallel  phrases  all  their  force  is,  that  He  to  whom  they 
relate  is  the  great  medium  of  Divine  manifestation. 

And  this  prepares  us  to  expect  that  the  manifestation  will 
not  be  verbal  merely.  For  how  can  the  imperfect  medium 
of  speech  convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  invisiUe  God? 
Besides,  the  intelligent  creatures  to  whom  the  manif^tation  is 
to  be  made,  had  first  to  be  created,  and  the  world  they  should 
inhabit  to  be  called  into  existence ;  and,  as  He  performed 
these  works  in  his  medial  capacity,  it  might  be  expected  that 
He  would  begin  the  manifestation  even  in  these.  This  is 
the  right  key  to  the  volume  of  the  universe.  Properly  un- 
derstood, every  material  particle  is  impressed  with  His  seal. 
Every  atom  is  a  letter,  and  every  work  a  word.  Every 
element  lectures  on  his  attributes,  and  each  _globe  is  a  mes- 
senger ever  moving  in  His  service.  Man  himself  was  made' 
in  His  image.  The  stars  come  forth  nightly  on  their  solemn 
embassy  to  "  proclaim  the  glory  of  God."  And  the  earth 
daily  alhrms  with  voices  innumerable  the  "eternal  power 
and  Godhead."      In  harmony  with    this    representation,  the 


34  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

Divine  Logos  is  represented  as  having  come  into  the  world, 
not  so  much  to  promote  the  Divine  manifestation  by  verbal 
instruction,  as  by  embodying  and  manifesting  Himself  in  ac- 
tions. He  came  to  be  the  manifestation  of  God.  "  He  that 
hath  seen  Me,"  said  He,  "  hath  seen  the  Father  also."  He 
claimed  for  Himself  the  exclusive  power  of  revealing  the  father ; 
and  affirmed  that  to  make  this  revelation  was  the  great  end  of 
His  own  coming.  And,  when  about  to  depart  from  the  world, 
He  was  heai-d  to  say  to  the  Father,  "  Having  declared  unto  them 
Thy  name,  and  having  thus  glorified  Thee  on  the  earth,  I  have 
finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  to  me  to  do."  While  His 
disciples  subsequently  declared,  that  the  Life  had  been  mani- 
fested, and  that  they  had  seen  it ;  that  that  which  was  from 
the  beginning  they  had  handled  and  seen,  even  the  Word  of 
Life  ;  that  though  no  man  had  seen  God  at  any  time,  the  only- 
begotten  Sou  had  come  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father  to  de- 
clare Him,  and  that  they  had  beheld  His  glory. 

And  thus,  be  it  observed,  the  very  means  of  external  mani- 
festation became  itself  the  manifestation  of  a  mysterious  plu- 
rality of  subsistencies  in  the  Godhead.  Li  the  very  first  step 
taken  to  give  the  universe  an  economy  ad  extra,  a  mysterious 
economy  ad  intra  was  disclosed ;  and-  which  became  the  ground 
and  means  of  every  subsequent  disclosure. 

Here,  then,  are  the  basis  and  the  medium  of  the  Divine  Man- 
ifestation ;  for,  in  relation  to  God,  as  we  shall  presently  evince 
more  clearly,  it  is  constituted  the  ground  on  which  such  mani- 
festation is  made ;  and  is  itself,  perhaps,  to  His  eye,  the  mani- 
festation already  and  ever  perfect.  While,  in  respect  to 
the  subs^uent  creation,  it  is  the  means  by  which  the  process 
will  be  ^er  conducted.  Thus,  while  the  reason  of  this  Re- 
lation is  laid,  proximately,  at  least,  in  the  Divine  Purpose,  and 
the  reason  of  the  Divine  Purpose  lies  in  the  Divine  Nature,  the 
reason  of  everythmg  else  will  be  found  to  be  laid  in  this  Re- 
lation. 


THE    PRIMARY    OBLIGATION.  35 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  PrTmart  Obligation  ;  or,  Duty  arising  from  the  Me- 
diatorial Relation. 

If  tlie  manifestation  of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency  be  the 
object  for  which  the  mediatorial  relation  exists,  and  if  the 
Being  sustaining  the  relation  be  infinitely  perfect,  or  equal  to 
the  relation,  it  follows  that  by  voluntarily  assuming  it.  He 
comes  under  obligation  to  do  everything  which  may  be  ne- 
cessary for  the  full  attainment  of  the  object  pro230sed. 

I.  For  what  is  obligation  but  the  necessary  link  which,  in  a 
moral  sequence,  connects  the  antecedent  with  its  consequent ; 
or,  the  indispensable  necessity  of  employing  the  means 
proper  to  attain  a  requisite  end  ?  Now  every  relation  brings 
with  it  certain  appropriate  obligations  ;  and  these  obligations 
vary  in  character  and  amount  according  to  the  character  of  the 
relations.  A  relation  may  be  voluntary,  or  involuntary,  and  nat- 
ural. If  it  be  voluntary,  he  who  assumes  it  is  bound  to  fulfil  the 
obligations  which  it  imposes ;  always  providing  that  he  either 
knew,  or  had  the  means  of  knowing,  the  nature  of  the  rela- 
tion ;  and  that  he  is  not  physically  unable  to  discharge  its  du- 


ll. Now  He  who  sustains  the  mediatorial  relation,  not  only 
possesses,  as  we  have  seen,  all  the  requisites  for  accomplishing 
the  great  purpose,  but  His  fitness  is  the  special  reason  why  He 
sustains  that  relation ;  the  relation  therefore  hinds  or  obliges  Him 
to  do  everything  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  the  end  for  which 
it  exists.  Thai  end  nlay  be  immeasurably  distant,  but  let  the 
first  creative  fiat  be  once  issued,  and  never  can  His  eye  be  with- 
drawn from  the  process  which  leads  to  it.  Vast  as  the  theatre 
may  be  which  that  process  may,  in  the  course  of  time,  come  to 
occupy.  His  presence  must,  in  some  sense,  pervade  the  entire 
space.  Innumerable  as  the  parts  belonging  to  the  process 
may  speedily  come  to  be,  and  receiving  as  they  may  innu- 
merable accessions  at  every  moment  after,  all  of  them  must 
be  known  to  Him  in  their  natures,  relations,  and  remotest 


36  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

effects.  Yarious,  and  formidable  to  finite  apprehension,  as  maj 
be  the  apparent  obstacles  to  the  attainment  of  the  end,  arising 
from  the  ever-varying  combinations  of  circumstances ;  from 
the  junctures  of  events  which  had  their  respective  causes  in 
flitierent  ages  of  creation,  and  in  different  departments  of  the 
universe ;  and,  especially,  from  the  voluntary  actions  of  free 
agents  ;  not  merely  must  He  be  prepared  to  meet  them  all,  but 
(as  an  illustration  of  all-sufficiency)  to  render  them  all  condu- 
cive, as  parts  of  His  plan,  to  the  attainment  of  His  ultimate 
end.  Ever  receding,  and  even  unattainable  (in  an  absolute 
sense)  as  that  end,  owing  to  its  perfection,  must  necessarily  be, 
yet  as  long  as  there  are  aspects  of  the  Divine  character  to  be 
manifested,  new  creatures  must  continue  to  be  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  displaying  and  appreciating  them  ;  or,  which  would 
seem  to  bp  better  still,  those  already  formed  must  be  placed  by 
Him  in  new  situations  for  beholding  it  in  fresh  aspects,  and 
have  their  powers  enlarged  for  appreciating  such  enlarged  dis- 
closures ;  or  —  that  which  would  seem  to  be  still  more  worthy 
of  all-sufficiency — both  these  conditions  might  be  made  to 
meet  in  the  same  order  of  creatures  ;  that  is,  besides  taking  up 
into  their  constitution  all  that  is  most  important  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  creatures  preceding  them,  they  may  be  made  to 
exliibit  something  more  excellent  of  their  owai  in  addition,  and 
be  placed  in  circumstances  favorable  to  the  ever-advancing 
exercise  and  development  of  the  whole.  And  thus  the  glories 
which  creation  may  display  at  any  period  indefinitely  distant 
from  the  first  moment  of  the  opening  manifestation,  and  the 
power  which  the  creature  may  at  such  period  possess  for  ap- 
preciating it,  will  only  be  the  means,  in  the  hand  of  the  Medi- 
ator, for  entering  on  a  new  career  of  Divine  manifestation  as 
immeasurably  distant,  and  incomparably  more  glorious  still; 
and  the  attainment  of  that  be  only  the  bare  preparation  for 
another  beyond,  so  m^uch  more  glorious  than  the  preceding 
that  the  eye  which  had  gazed  on  all  the  splendors  of  the  past, 
and  the  ear  which  had  heard  all  the  speculations  and  conjec- 
tures to  which  that  past  had  given  rise,  and  the  heart  which 
had  been  occupied  ten  thousand  ages  in  putting  all  these 
together  into  every  imaginable  form  of  ideal  glory,  Avill  yet 
have  to  confess  that  it  had  never  seen,  nor  heard,  nor  even 
imagined,  anything  to  be  compared  with  it  —  and  so  on  ad 
injinilum.  So  that  as  the  manifestation  will  never  have  reached 
a  j)oint  beyond  which  it  cannot  be  carried  further  still,  the 
mediatorial  office  can  never,  absolutely,  and  in  every  sense, 


THE   PRIMARY    OBLIGATION.  37 

cease ;  in  other  words,  the  reLation  which  the  Mediator  sustains 
in  the  great  purpose  of  manifestation  binds  or  obliges  Him  to  do 
everything  which  may  be  necessary  to  the  full  attaiimient  of 
the  great  end  —  and  therefore  to  continue  the  manifestation  for 
ever. 

This  view  of  the  mediatorial  obligation  harmonizes  with,  and 
is  suggested  by,  that  numerous  and  important  class  of  Scriptures 
which  appears  to  take  such  obligation  for  granted ;  and  which 
represents  even  the  self-denial  and  sufterings  of  the  Mediator, 
as  events  which  "behoved  him "  —  and  which  "  ought "  to  take 
place.  The  proximate  obhgation  implied  in  these  Scriptures, 
indeed,  may  be  that  which  bound  Him  to  the  employment  of 
suitable  means  for  the  attainment  of  a  particular  end.  That 
particular  end  w-as  the  recovery  of  a  race  wdiich  by  voluntarily 
obstructing  the  great  process  of  manifestation,  and  by  thus  for- 
feiting all  right  to  the  happiness  attending  it,  could  be  restored 
to  it  again  only  when  such  restoration  could  be  made  as  safe  to 
the  great  process,  and  as  conducive  to  the  great  end,  as  their 
abandonment  to  the  consequences  of  their  sinful  defection  would 
be.  And  the  Mediator,  having  undertaken  to  effect  that  resto- 
ration, had  brought  himself  under  obligation  to  do  all  that  was 
necessary  to  render  this  particular  end  consistent  wdth  the 
attainment  of  the  great  end.  The  event  showed  that  suffering 
and  death  were  the  necessary  means  —  and  therefore  even 
suffering  and  death  "  became  Him  "  and  He  "  ought "  to  endure 
them. 

But  this  view  accounts  only  for  the  proximate  obligation. 
It  leaves  unanswered  the  natural  and  momentus  inquiry  why 
such  an  obligation  was  incurred?  Whereas,  the  right  answer, 
I  apprehend,  would  show  that  this  proximate  obligation,  great 
and  wonderful  as  it  is,  resolves  itself  into  one  higher ^and  more 
comprehensive  still ;  and  that  to  this  the  class  of  Scriptures 
referred  to  ultimatehj  relates  —  namely,  the  all-comprehending 
obligation  to  which  His  mediatorial  relation  binds  Him,  of 
doing  everything  essential  to  the  great  §nd.  In  virtue  of  that 
relation.  He  was  bound  from  the  beginning,  not  only  to  keep 
the  great  process  in  constant  activity,  but  to  keep  it  ever  advanc- 
ing and  enlarging ;  and  this,  as  we  have  seen,  involved  the  re- 
quirement that  He  should  meet  every  exigency  wdiich  might 
arise,  and  even  turn  it  to  the  account  of  the  final  result.  His 
eartCly  humihation,  indeed,  is,  probably,  on  many  accounts,  the 
central  wonder  and  most  amazing  part  of  that  duty  to  ^vhich 
His  mediatorial  relation  can  ever  oblige  Him ;  but  still  it  is 


38  THE    PEE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

only  one  of  an  unbroken  series  of  acts,  which,  beginning  with 
the  lirst  liat  of  creation,  can  never  end,  unless  the  great  manifest- 
ation itself,  on  account  of  which  the  relation  exists,  could  ever 
arrive  at  completion. 

HI.  This  view  seems  to  place  us  in  an  advantageous  position 
for  gaining  an  insight  into  the  very  reason  of  the  medial  rela- 
tion —  disclosing,  not  merely  what  it  is,  but  partially,  at  least, 
why  it  is  so.  That  tliis  subject  should  be  felt  to  be  profound, 
might  have  been  expected,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  it 
appears  to  involve,  in  some  degree,  the  very  nexus  which  unites 
the  internal  economy  of  the  Divine  nature  with  the  external 
economy  of  the  dependent  universe.  Even  in  the  philosophy 
of  our  own  minds,  the  mode  in  which  the  thinking  principle 
within  is  related  to  the  world  without  —  how  that  which  is  I, 
can  come  to  know  that  which  is  not  I,  is  the  great,  and,  com- 
paratively, the  only  difficulty.  So  that  every  theory  on  the 
mind  derives  its  character  from  the  view  which  is  taken  of  this 
starting-point:  —  one  denying  that  there  is  any  subjective; 
another,  that  there  is  any  objective;  another  affirming  that 
they  are  identical ;  and  a  fourth,  that  they  are  not  identical 
but  inexplicably  related.  Precisely  in  like  manner,  some 
have  denied  that  there  is  any  Originating  Mind,  and  regard 
the  universe  as  eternal ;  others  have  affirmed  that  there  is  no 
material  universe,  but  that  God  alone  exists ;  others,  that  God 
and  nature  are  identical ;  and  others,  that  they  exist  distinctly, 
but  are  inexplicably  related.  Now  Divine  revelation  discloses 
the  vital  fact  that  they  are  related,  and  that  the  relation  is, 
properly  understood,  not  direct  but  medial. 

1.  B-ut  what  is  the  reason  of  the  fact  ?  Is  it  a  natural  rea- 
son merely ;  one,  that  is,  arising  from  the  disparity  of  nature 
between  the  created  and  the  infinite  Invisible  ?  Such  was  the 
theory  of  many  of  the  emanative  systems  of  the  East ;  indirectly 
derived,  but  perverted,  from  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  They 
taught  that  as  the  Highest  Being  is,  in  himself,  incomprehensi- 
ble and  unapproachable,  there  can  be  no  immediate  transit 
from  Him  to  a  world  of  created  existences  ;  that,  consequently, 
it  became  necessary  that  there  should  be  found  in  God  some 
transition-point  to  make  His  fulness  comprehensible  and  com- 
municable ;  and  that  this  was  found  in  Himself  from  eternity 
in  a  Being  like  Himself,  through  whom  the  concealed  God  was 
manifested.  And  this  opinion,  slightly  modified,  and  repro- 
duced in  some  of  the  early  Christian  creeds,  has  continued  to 


THE    PRIMARY    OBLIGATION.  80 

exercise  a  powerful  influence  on  the  theology  of  this,  subject 
down  to  the  present  clay.  That  it  involves  some  truths  v/e 
readily  admit ;  but,  if  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  whole  truth, 
the  reply  to  it  is  obvious  —  namely,  that  if  the  supposed  medi- 
um be  infinite,  the  natural  chasm  intended  to  be  filled  up  be- 
tween God  and  the  creature  remains,  for  one  infinite  is  as  un- 
approachable as  another ;  and  that  if  it  be  not  infinite,  it  no 
less  remains,  for  a  finite  medium  necessarily  leaves  the  gulf  as 
it  was  —  infinite. 

2.  Is  the  reason,  then,  a  moral  one ;  and,  if  so,  what  is  its 
specific  nature  ?  The  general  reply  would  doubtless  be  in  the 
affirmative,  aiil^to  this  eifect  —  that  the  constitution  of  a  uni- 
verse worthy  of  an  Infinitely  Perfect  Being  involved  the  exis- 
tence of  free  agents,  and  therefore  of  a  moral  administration ; 
that  under  such  an  administration  righteously  administered,  for- 
giveness, in  the  event  of  sin,  would  be  impossible,  unless  such 
a  compensation  should  be  provided  as  would  render  forgiveness 
as  safe  and  honorable  to  the  administration  as  the  infliction  of 
the  merited  punishment  would  be  ;  and  that  God,  therefore, 
foreseeing  such  an  event,  and  determined  on  the  illustration  of 
His  infinite  grace,  devised  a  system  of  mediation,  at  once  safe 
for  His  government,  suited  to  the  exigency  of  the  sinner,  and 
glorious  for  His  own  character.  Now,  not  only  is  this  true  —  it 
is  inestimable  truth.  To  a  sinful  world  it  is  Gospel.  But 
to  regard  this  as  the  whole  of  the  reason,  would  be  to  limit  the 
reason  to  a  single  act  or  class  of  actions  ;  whereas,  if  our  pre- 
ceding views  are  correct,  that  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  pur- 
pose of  Divine  manifestation,  just  as  the  ground  of  that  is  to 
be  found  in  the  great  Reason  of  all  —  the  l3ivine  Nature. 

3.  For  the  sake  of  distinguishing  the  original  ground  of  the 
mediatorial  relation,  then,  from  that  just  named,  and  yet  avoid- 
ing the  employment  of  a  term  liable  to  misinterpretation,  we 
would  designate  it  simply  as  the  priniary  moral  reason,  in  con- 
tradistinction from  the  last,  which  we  regard  as  the  proximate 
moral  reason ;  and  this  primary  reason  we  conceive  to  be,  be- 
cause nothing  else  than  the  institution  and  voluntary  assumption 
of  the  subordinate  office,  understood  by  the  mediatorial  relation, 
would  have  adequately  numifested  the  infinite  Holiness  and  Love 
of  God,  or  His  cdl-sufficiency  for  the  well-being  of  an  i7itelUge7it 
and  accountable  universe. 

That  other  reasons  for  this  amazing  arrangement  are  dedu- 
cible  from  Scripture,  is  gladly  admitted.  There  is  that  great 
proximate  reason,  to  which  we  have  just  adverted.     There  is 


40  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

also  the  reason,  that  we  might  not  he  discouraged,  hy  a  sense  of 
God's  ineffadle  majesty^  from  approaching  Him.  And  there  is 
the  weighty  reason  of  the  moral  influence  arising  from  the  Ife- 
diator's  example  of  ivilling  subordination  to  the  Father.  That 
He  should  be  seen  standing  in  the  view  of  tlie  universe  —  seen 
by  his  own  creatures  —  in  a  station  of  obedience !  Who  else 
can  refuse  to  obey?  That  He,  of  his  own  free-"\vill,  should 
consent  to  serve !  —  what  creature- will  but  must  feel  constrain- 
ed to  yield  ?  That  He  should  find  glory  in  this  subordination  ! 
—  does  it  not  point  the  intelligent  universe  the  only  way  to 
perfection  —  namely,  by  its  coincidence  with  the  Divine  will  ? 
But  these  reasons,  and  others  which  might  ]^ named,  are  all 
included  in  that  which  I  have  designated  as  the  primary  moral 
reason.  And  I  venture  to  repeat,  that,  not  only  is  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency  that  primary  reason,  but 
that  nothing  else  than  the  mediatorial  relation  can  be  conceiv- 
ed of  as  furnishing  an  adequate  manifestation  of  that  all-suffi- 
ciency. That  the  Divine  Being  might  have  abstained,  had  He 
so  pleased,  from  all  external  manifestation,  I  believe  to  be  a 
doctrine  of  Scripture ;  but  I  believe  also  that,  having  deter- 
mined on  the  manifestation,  nothing  less  than  the  voluntary 
subordination  of  one  of  the  persons  in  the  Godhead  could  ade- 
quately express  the  resources  of  all-sufficiency.  Had  the  suf- 
ficiency of  God  been  hmited ;  or  had  He  designed  that  the 
manifestation  should  have  been  of  any  amount  of  His  excel- 
lence short  of  all-sufficiency  —  i.  e.,  had  He  himself  been  im- 
perfect, or  had  He  determined  on  an  imperfect  manifestation — 
an  arrangement  inferior  to  that  of  the  system  of  mediation 
might  have  sufficed ;  but  if  God  all-sufficient  is  to  be  revealed, 
this  would  appear  to  be  the  adequate  and  only  exponent.  And 
still  farther,  so  effectually  does  the  mediatorial  arrangement 
provide  for  the  purposed  manifestation,  that  the  mere  willing- 
ness of  the  Mediator  to  sustain  the  relation,  apart  from  all  that 
He  has  done  in  consequence,  and,  hypothetically  speaking, 
even  short  of  His  actually  sustaining  it  at  all  —  His  mere  luill- 
ingness  to  sustain  it,  could  that  have  been  signified  to  the  uni- 
verse, would  have  given  us  a  deeper  insight  into  the  character 
of  God,  and  have  furnished  a  brighter  illustration  of  His  all- 
sufficiency,  than  it  could  ever  have  entered  into  the  mind  of  man 
or  angel  to  conceive.  The  wonder  is,  then,  not  so  much  that 
He  should  fulfil  every  condition  to  Avhich  His  mediatorial  rela- 
tion obliges  Him,  as  that  He  should  be  found  sustaining  the 
relation  at  all  from  which  that  obligation  takes  its  rise.     To 


THE    PRIMARY    OBLIGATION.  41 

say  that  He  foresaw  these  conditions,  is  only  saying  that  He  is 
equal  to  the  relation  which  He  sustains.  And  to  say  that  He 
yet  voluntarily  undertook  that  office,  is  only  saying  that  He 
who  is  at  the  head  of  a  system  of  free  agency  is  Himself  a 
free  agent.  But  that  He  should  have  done  this,  I  repeat,  that 
He  who  had  known  no  necessity  but  that  of  being,  and  of 
being  what  Pie  was,  should  have  brought  himself  under  obli- 
gation ;  that  He  who  had  known  no  relation  but  that  of  the 
ineffable  union  of  the  Godhead,  should  oblige  Himself  to  sus- 
tain a  relation  to  a  created  universe  —  to  become  the  centre 
of  an  ever-enlarging  system  of  such  relations  ;  and  to  do  every- 
thing necessary  to  the  well-being  of  such  relations ;  that  the 
cause  of  all  things,  ad  extra,  should  have  voluntarily  assumed 
that  office  as  an  effect  of  a  previous  purpose ;  that  "  the  Be- 
ginning of  Creation  "  should  range  Himself  in  a  line  with  His 
own  creatures  —  subjecting  Himself  to  His  own  laws  —  as  the 
first  term  in  a  series  of  means,  for  the  accomplislunent  of  the 
end  which  that  purpose  contemplated ;  —  this  can  be  account- 
ed for  only  by  supposing  that  the  end  is  the  illustration  of  the 
Divine  all-sufficiency. 

Nor  is  this  final  reason  unfrequently  or  obscurely  adverted 
to  in  the  word  of  God.  To  this  effect,  ultimately,  are  those  pas- 
sages to  which  reference  has  been  made  already.  So  also  is  the 
inspired  declaration,  that  in  the  most  self-denying  acts  of  the 
Mediator,  the  eternal  Father  vv^as  allowing  or  appointing  that 
which  "  became  Him ; "  but,  then,  the  capacity  or  relation  in 
which  it  became  Him  is  distinctly  stated,  as  "  Him,  by  whom 
are  all  tilings,  and  for  whom  are  all  things," —  as  Him  who  is 
His  own  end,  and  the  end  of  everything  else,  even  of  the  sys- 
tem of  mediation,  with  all  that  it  includes.  And  to  this  view 
the  Mediator  Himself  sets  His  seal  in  all  those  passages,  cited 
in  the  last  chapter,  in  which  He  declares,  that  whatever  He 
said,  did,  or  suffered,  the  whole  was  for  the  disclosure  of  the 
Divine  glory. 

(1.)  Then,  it  is  to  be  inferred,  that  the  character  of  the 
Father  is  perfectly  free  from  that  unlovely  and  invidious  light 
vvdiich  some  views  of  mediation  are  charged  with  unjustly 
casting  on  it.  The  object  of  the  Father  in  appointing,  and  of 
the  Son  in  voluntarily  assimiing  the  relation,  is  one  —  the  ful- 
filment of  the  great  purpose.  So  that  the  arrangement  is  re- 
quired by  a  principle  rather  than  by  a  person ;  is  rendered, 
on  the  one  hand,  for  the  very  same  reason  that  it  is  required 
4* 


42  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

on  the  other — namely,  that  the  full  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
glory  to  the  universe  might  be  made  possible. 

(2.)  That  as  the  appointment  of  such  an  arrangement  ar- 
gues no  deficiency  of  benevolence  on  the  one  hand,  but  the 
reverse,  so  the  accession  to  it,  on  the  other,  argues  no  absolute 
loss  of  original  prerogatives,  or  entire  renunciation  of  ante- 
cedent rights.  These,  as  they  belong  to  the  Divine  nature, 
can  never  be  detached  or  diminished,  but  are  as  unchangeable 
as  the  nature  to  which  they  belong.  Besides,  these  preroga- 
tives constitute  the  fitness  of  the  Mediator,  or  His  infinite  ade- 
quacy, for  the  mediatorial  office,  and  enable  Him  to  discharge 
it ;  and  surely  His  rights  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  annulled 
because  of  His  perfections.  And  it  is  because  of  His  retain- 
ing these  original  prerogatives,  as  well  as  on  account  of  His 
manifestation  of  God,  that  He  is  often  spoken  of  in  Scripture, 
interchangeably,  as  acting  both  in  His  original  and  in  His  offi- 
cial capacity. 

(3.)  That  the  mediatorial  obligation  v.dll  never  terminate. 
As  its  sole  design  is  the  manifestation  of  God,  its  duration 
must  run  parallel  with  the  manifestation ;  so  that  unless  the 
universe  Avere  to  be  blotted  out,  or  the  perfections  of  Deity  to 
be  exhausted,  it  can  know  no  end.  Commencing  prior  to  the 
introduction  of  sin,  it  will  continue,  in  some  sense,  after  all 
the  probationary  perturbations  of  the  moral  system  have  ceas- 
ed, as  the  indispensable  and  everlasting  proof  of  the  Divine 
all-sufiiciency.  And  what  a  view  does  this  wonderful  economy 
afford  us  of  the  all-comprehending  glory  of  that  end  which 
could  justify  the  adoption  of  such  means  in  order  to  fulfil  it ! 

(4.)  And  how  inevitably  does  the  arrangement  suggest  that 
if  the  primary  relation  gives  rise  to  obligation,  every  subordi- 
nate relation  will  do  the  same  ;  that  the  Creator  will  not  be  the 
only  being  under  obligation ;  that  all  His  creatures,  in  propor- 
tion to  their  relation  to  Him  and  to  each  other,  will  be  under 
oblisration  also. 


thp:  supresie  right.  43 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Supreme  Right  ;  or,  Mediatorial  Authority  and  Happi- 
7iess  commensurate  with  the  discharge  of  Obligation. 

If  tlie  primary  oblio;ation  be  commensurate  with  the  media- 
torial relation,  it  may  be  expected  that  the  discharge  of  that 
obligation  will  be  associated  with  corresponding  rights,  so  that 
if  the  Being  discharging  it,  do  everything  necessary  to  a  con- 
stant approximation  towards  the  great  end,  it  will  follow  that 
he  should  meantime  enjoy,  or  possess  a  right  consistently  witli 
that  end,  both  to  whatever  is  necessary  to  the  prosecution  of 
his  object,  and  to  whatever  flows  from  it.  Here  is  a  two-fold 
right ;  the  first  part,  presupposing  obligation,  and  the  second, 
presupposing  its  discharge. 

I.  Independently  of  His  original  and  unalienable  rights, 
the  nature  of  the  Great  End  invests  Him  with  a  right  of  the 
highest  order  in  relation  to  whatever  may  be  included  in  the 
mystery  of  the  Godhead.  For  example,  if  there  be  a  distinc- 
tion or  subsistency  in  the  Divine  nature,  designated  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  if  the  attainment  of  the  end  require  the  disclosure  of 
tills  mysterious  fact ;  and  if  this  disclosure  can  be  only  effected, 
consistently  with  the  end,  by  His  employment  of  the  agency 
of  this  Divine  subsistency,  His  office  entitles  Him  to  avail  Him- 
self of  that  agency.  His  right  is  commensurate  with  His  obli- 
gation. The  end  at  which  He  aims  being  unlimited,  all  limita- 
tion must  be  removed  from  the  means  ;  so  that  all  the  resources 
of  the  Divine  nature  are  to  be  considered  as  at  His  disposal. 

II.  1.  If  He  call  any  order  of  intelligent  creatures  into  ex- 
istence, with  a  view  to  their  subordination  to  the  great  end, 
(and  for  no  other  purpose  can  they  exist,)  He  has  a  right  to 
their  proper  activity  and  service.  If  He  Himself  be  under 
obligation  to  attain  a  certain  end  ;  and  if  that  obligation  in* 
elude  the  production  and  employment  of  appropriate  means, 
the  same  obligation  rests  on  the  means,  provided  they  are 
capable  of  obligation,  as  necessary  steps  to  the  attainment  of 
the  end ;  for  without  them,  the  end  cannot  be  attained.  This 
is  the  very  condition  of  their  existence ;  for  had  it  not  been 


44  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

for  that  end  they  would  not  have  been  called  into  being ;  had 
it  not  been  for  the  mediatorial  constitution  on  which  that  end 
is  pursued,  they  could  not  have  existed ;  and  were  it  not  that 
they  are  intended  to  serve  as  means  to  that  end,  they  would 
not  have  been  constituted  what  they  are.  They  hold  exist- 
ence, therefore,  and  their  particular  constitution  of  existence, 
on  tho  prime  condition  that  they  answer  the  great  end  for 
which  they  have  received  both  ;  and  to  do  this  is  at  once  their 
excellence  and  their  "happiness.  He  who  has  imparted  both, 
has  in  no  sense  parted  with  His  right  in  either.  The  excel- 
lence and  happiness  now  found  in  the  creature,  existed  poten- 
tially in  the  Creator  before  they  came  into  the  creature ;  but 
in  imparting  them  to  the  creature,  the  Creator  intended,  not 
that  His  own  glory  ghould  be  thereby  left  unaffected,  but  that 
they  should  answer  an  end  by  which  both  they  should  be  in- 
creased, and  the  Divine  glory  be  thereby  augmented. 

2.  If,  then,  any  of  the  creatures  are  so  constituted  that  their 
activity  increases  their  power  of  subserving  the  great  end  of 
their  existence.  He  has  a  right  to  the  whole  of  that  increase ; 
for  it  is  owing  entirely  to  His  having  constituted  them  as  they 
are,  that  they  are  capable  of  such  increase ;  and  the  great  rea- 
son why  He  did  so,  is  the  same  as  that  for  which  He  constituted 
them  at  all  —  to  subserve  the  great  end  of  the  Divine  mani- 
festation. 

3.  If,  again,  owing  to  the  providence  or  plan  on  which  the 
end  will  be  sought,  and  the  consequent  relationships  in  which 
successive  creatures  will  stand  to  each  other,  their  power  of 
subserving  that  end  should  be  augmented.  He  will,  for  the 
same  reason,  have  a  right  to  the  whole  of  that  augmentation. 
For,  as  the  great  system  of  means  advances  from  one  stage  of 
development  to  another,  it  will  be  only  the  gradual  unfolding 
of  a  plan  which  had  always  existed  in  His  infinite  mind.  And 
as  it  existed  there  only  with  a  view  to  the  end,  so  whatever  may 
be  gained  by  the  accomplishment  of  a  preceding  part  of  the  plan, 
is  so  much  gained  for  the  part  succeeding,  and  so  on  to  the  end. 

4.  If,  again,  owing  to  any  of  the  free  agents,  which  the  plan 
contemplates,  abusing  their  free  agency,  and  withholding  their 
power,  and  thus  violating  the  condition  of  their  existence,  the 
progress  of  the  plan  and  the  attainment  of  the  great  end  should 
be  thwarted,  or,  in  any  sense,  endangered ;  and'  if,  then,  owing 
to  his  interposition  in  any  way,  the  derangement  of  the  system 
should  be  remedied,  and  be  even  turned  to  the  account  of  the 
great  end,  He  would  have  a  right  to  all  the  advantage  which 


THE    SUPREME    EIGHT.  45 

that  gracious  interposition  would  give  Him.  Absolute  as  His 
right  to  their  activity  and  devotedness  was  before,  He  has  now 
established  a  new  right  of  peculiar  cogency.  Before,  He  had 
called  them  from  nothingness  into  happy  existence,  now  he  has 
called  them  from  misery  to  happiness.  But  for  the  first  act, 
they  would  never  have  been  ;  but  for  the  second,  they  would 
never  have  been  ought  but  miserable.  Whatever  may  be  the 
amount  of  their  new  obligation,  therefore.  He  is  entitled  to  the 
result  of  it ;  —  of  all  the  additional  moral  influence  which  it 
gives  him  over  their  minds,  of  all  the  new  motives  to  obedi- 
ence which  it  should  call  into  existence,  and  of  all  the  increase 
of  power  arising  from  the  stimulating  influence  thus  shed  over 
the  great  system  of  means. 

III.  The  Mediator  has  a  right  also  to  whatever  satisfaction  ' 
can  arise  from  the  contemplation  of  His  own  conduct  in  its  re- 
spective relations  to  God  and  to  the  creature. 

1.  There  is  the  happiness  of  beholding  His  ideas  or  designs 
ohjectively  realized — He  has  a  right  to  that.  Accordingly, 
He  is  represented  as  having  contemplated  the  first  objects 
even  of  the  material  world,  as  they  came  forth  from  His  hand, 
with  Divine  complacency.  He  looked  on  them  as  visible  re- 
alizations of  eternal  types.  On  comparing  them,  so  to  speak, 
with  the  archetypes  in  His  own  infinite  mind,  He  beheld  the 
perfect  resemblance,  and  was  satisfied.  He  regarded  them  as 
exponents  or  signs  of  certain  corresponding  qualities,  infinitely 
greater  in  the  Divine  nature.  And  He  beheld  them  in  their 
prospective  application ;  serving  as  indexes  or  memorials  of 
that  infinite  greatness  to  myriads  of  minds  which  He  purposed 
to  create,  and  so  to  constitute  that  each  of  all  these  things 
should  operate  on  them  suggestively.  He  knew,  therefore,  all 
the  lofty  thoughts  which  these  objects  would  ever  suggest,  and 
all  the  exquisite  delight  those  thoi%hts  would  occasion,  and 
all  the  holy  admiration  which  the  perception  of  this  relation 
between  things  that  differ  would  ever  produce. 

He  looked  on  those  objects  also  as  the  first  in  an  endless 
series  yet  to  come.  In  His  first  acts  of  creation,  the  great 
architect  was  laying  the  foundation  of  an  all-comprehending 
and  eternal  temple ;  and  His  infinite  mind  is  to  be  regarded  as 
having  embraced,  by  anticipation,  all  the  sublime  results.  The 
worshippers,  the  homage,  the  temple  filled  with  the  glory  of 
the  Divine  manifestation  —  all  were  present  to  His  mind — and 
He  rejoiced  in  the  glorious  prospect. 


46  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

2.  There  is  the  happiness  of  prospectively  beholding  the 
activity,  enlargement,  and  progress  of  the  whole  system  of 
creation  and  providence  —  He  has  a  right  to  the  enjoyment  of 
that.  Not  more  certainly  is  the  earth  perpetually  speeding  on 
its  destined  course  through  space,  and  carrying  with  it  all  the 
momentous  interests  of  humanity,  than  His  plan,  freighted 
with  an  eternal  weight  of  glory  for  the  creature,  and  with  a 
weightier  revenue  of  glory  to  God,  is  in  constant  progress. 
Never  for  a  moment  does  it  retrograde  —  never  pause — never 
linger.  Look  on  it  when  He  will,  He  beholds  it  arrived  at 
that  stage  where,  a  thousand  ages  ago,  He  foresaw  it  would 
be ;  and  look  forward  to  what  distant  age  He  will,  He  beholds 
it,  in  anticipation,  already  there  arrived.  Hence,  He  is  often 
represented  in  Scripture  as  foretasting  the  happiness  arising 
from  the  contemplation  of  this  progress.  Out  of  the  depths 
of  eternity,  He  looked  onward  to  the  period  when  creation 
should  commence.  ''  From  everlasting,  from  the  beginning, 
or  ever  the  earth  was,  when  there  were  no  depths,  no  fountains 
abounding  with  water,  when  as  yet  he  had  not  made  the  earth, 
nor  the  fields,  nor  the  highest  part  of  the  dust  of  the  world,"  i 
He  anticipated  the  period  when  all  these  would  be.  Beyond 
this.  He  looked  on  to  the  remote  period  when  the  earth  should 
be  prepared  for  the  reception  and  sustenance  of  animal  life. 
He  saw  its  forests  wave ;  its  waters  roll ;  its  surface  clothed 
with  verdure ;  and  the  whole  replenished  with  various  orders 
of  sentient  beings.  Ages'  beyond,  and  when,  by  successive 
creations  and  mighty  intervals  of  change,  the  earth  should 
have  been  slowly  prepared  for  the  reception  of  a  being  such 
as  man,  His  eye  fixed  on  the  time  when,  in  order  to  that  event, 
He  should  "  prepare  the  heavens,  and  set  a  compass  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep ;  when  He  should  establish  the  clouds  above ; 
and  v^^hen  he  should  give  to  the  sea  His  decree  that  the  wa- 
ters should  not  pass  His  •commandment."  Already,  in  His 
prescient  view,  the  sun  had  received  its  final  commission  to 
shine,  and  earth  had  received  its  general  outline  of  Alp  and 
Apennine,  and  Himalaya  —  of  Atlantic,  Pacific,  and  Mediter- 
ranean. Ah-eady  Eden  bloomed,  and  "  a  river  went  out  of  it 
to  water  the  garden."  Man's  mansion  was  prepared,  but  where 
was  the  great  inhabitant  ?  The  theatre  was  ready  —  where 
was  the  being  on  whose  introduction  the  mighty  drama  should 
begin?     Already,  in  intention,  He  saw  that  creature  come, 

>  bnPl  n'Tn^?  ^IJ!}^^  —  Prov.  vii.  26.  Rendered  by  Gcsenius  the  first 
(earliest)  clod' of  the  earth  —  i.  e.  which  was  the  first  fonued, 


THE    SUPREME    RIGHT.  47 

radiant  in  h.s  own  image  —  the  crown  of  creation :  and,  os 
He  saw,  He  already  heard  "  the  morning  stars  sing  together ; " 
saw  earth's  first  sabbath  dawn  ;  beheld  man's  earliest  act  of 
adoration;  and  pronounced  the  whole  to  be  "good."  Even 
then,  though  existing  only  in  His  Divine  purpose,  "He  rejoiced 
in  the  habitable  parts  of  the  earth,  and  His  delights  were  with 
the  sons  of  men."  He  foresaw  His  blessing  enlargin.:^  Japheth, 
and  causing  him  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  His  purpose 
had  formed  the  great  continents  of  the  earth,  had  smootlied  the 
valleys  where  nations  should  be  cradled,  and  given  direction 
to  the  course  of  the  rivers  whose  banks  should  become  the 
seat  of  empire.  'The  actual  distribution  of  Canaan  among  the 
tribes  of  Israel  was  only  the  transcription  of  an  eternal  plan. 
"  Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years  of  many  gen- 
erations ;  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  show  thee ;  thy  elders, 
and  they  will  tell  thee.  When  the  Most  High  divided  to  the 
nations  their  inheritance ;  when  He  separated  the  sons  of 
Adam,  He  set  the  bounds  of  the  people  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  the  children  of  Israel."  Before  Moses  —  before  Pisgah 
itself,  from  which  Moses  looked  down  on  the  promised  land, 
existed  — -  His  eye  had  looked  down  from  the  height  of  His 
sanctuaiy,  and  hdd  beheld  prospectively  that  Sinai  whence  His 
law  should  be  given ;  that  Zion  which  should  be  crowned  with 
His  temple ;  that  Calvary  which  should  sustain  the  mystery 
of  the  cross. 

Now  that  the  prospect  of  the  development  of  His  great 
plan  affords  him  profound  satisfaction  is  evident,  not  only  from 
the  Scriptures  already  quoted,  but  from  the  fact  that  he  has 
sought,  at  times,  to  inspire  His  church  with  an  ecstasy  of  de- 
light by  affording  them  glimpses  of  its  onward  course.  All  the 
eublime  disclosures  of  prophecy  are  merely  revelations  of  that 
future  on  which  His  eye  is  perpetually  fixed  ;  and  by  the  pros- 
pect of  which  He  would  fain  admit  the  faithful  to  a  fellowship 
in  His  own  delight.  And  all  the  satisfaction  those  disclosures 
have  ever  yielded  to  an  Abraham,  who  "  saw  His  day,  and  was 
glad;"  to  a  David,  an  Isaiah,  an  Ezekiel,  a  Paul,  a  John,  en- 
tranced with  the  vision  —  to  the  whole  church,  which  "  having 
seen  them  afar  off,  were  persuaded  of  them,  and  embraced 
them,"  and  died  in  exulting  faith  —  all  this  is  only  a  particle 
of  the  boundle-ss  "joy  which  they  have  ever  set  before  him." 

3.  To  Him  also  belongs  the  happiness  of  prospectively  be- 
holding the  effects  of  His  gratuitous  interposition  for  human 
salivation.     If,  owing  to  no  defect  iu  the  original  constitution 


48  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

of  the  threat  plan  of  Providence,  any  part  of  that  plan  be  vio- 
lated by  man ;  and  if,  owing  to  no  original  defect  in  man. 
but  owing  to  an  abuse  of  his  necessary  free-agency,  that  viola- 
tion take  place ;  and  if,  therefore,  without  any  claim  on  the 
interposition  of  the  Mediator,  He  yet  determined  to  remedy 
the  evil,  to  take  advantage  of  it  in  a  way  which  shall  accrue 
to  the  infinite  good  of  the  very  beings  who  had  introduced  the 
evil,  and  to  the  furtherance  of  the  great  end  of  Divine  mani- 
festation —  surely  He  has  a  right  to  the  happiness  arising  from 
a  view  of  the  effects  of  His  own  interposition.  Accordingly, 
there  is  a  class  of  Scriptures  w^iich  represents  Him  as  rejoic- 
m^-  in  the  prospect  of  this  interposition.  And  the  satisfaction 
which  He  derives  from  the  contemplation  of  that  prospect,  is 
heightened  by  the  vivid  contrast  in  which  it  ever  stands  before 
his°view  with  what  must  have  been  the  dreadful  alternative  if 
He  had  not  interposed.  And  w^hen  He  anticipates  the  day  in 
which  "  He  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  ad- 
mired in  all  them  that  beheve,"  He  "  sees  of  the  travail  df  His 
soul,  and  is  satisfied." 

4.  Then  He  is  entitled  to  the  grateful  homage  of  all  whc 
share  the  effects  of  His  gracious  interposition.  Hence  His 
own  language,  "  that  all  men  should  honor  the  Son  even  as 
they  honor  the  Father." 

5.  The  happiness  flowing  from  the  fact  that  on  account  of 
His  mediatorial  work.  He  is  the  object  of  the  Father's  infinite 
delight,  is  greater  still.  For  He  estimates  that  complacency 
at  its  proper  worth,  which  is  infinite,  absolutely  infinite ;  and 
therefore  greater  than  the  intelligent  creation,  though  its  capa- 
city be  ahvays  enlarging,  w^ill  ever  be  able  to  experience. 

G.  And  then  there  is  the  happiness  derivable  from  knowing 
that  He  is  attaining  the  greatest  of  all  ends  —  the  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency.  Now,  if  this  end  be  so  great, 
that  every  other  s-tands  to  it  only  in  the  relation  of  means ;  if 
this  is  infinitely  greater  than  all  other  ends  combined,  the  hap- 
piness arising  from  the  attainment  of  it  must  be  infinitely 
greater  also.  The  happiness  flowing  from  the  spectacle  of  a 
redeemed  and  happy  creation  must  be  great ;  for  He  knew  not 
only  what  would  be  the  exact  measure  of  its  happiness  at  this 
moment,  but  how  happy  it  will  be  ten  thousand  ages  hence, 
when  its  capacity  for  happiness  will  be  increased  ten  thousand- 
fold —  with  all  the  hai)piness  it  will  have  enjoyed  in  the  inter- 
val, and  so  on  for  ever.  But  inconceivably  high  as  He  values 
that  complacency,  more  highly  still  does  He  value  that  glory 


THE    SUPREME    RIGHT.  49 

on  account  of  the  manifestation  of  wliicli  that  complacency  is 
accorded  to  Him,  He  estimates  everything  as  the  eternal 
Father  does  ;  so  that  if  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  glory 
be  so  dear  to  the  Father  that  He  pours  His  complacency  on 
the  Son  for  undertaking  it,  the  Mediator  Himself  regarding  it 
in  the  same  light,  must  derive  from  the  contemplation  of  its 
attainment  His  highest  delight.  The  prospect  of  beholding  a 
universe  of  dependent  beings  hanging  on  independent  all-suffi- 
cience ;  every  heai^t  a  channel  through  which  a  fulness  of  de- 
light is  constantly  streaming  from  the  great  central  source,  and 
every  moment  enlarging  to  receive  more ;  every  sin  forgiven, 
every  evil  remedied,  every  want  supplied ;  the  whole  reflect- 
ing, and  replenished  with,  the  Divine  glory  —  this  is  the  con- 
summation of  that  glory  which  is  set  before  Him.  Much  as 
He  may  delight  in  the  favor  of  Deity,  He  rates  tlie  glory  of 
the  Deity  higher  still :  for  it  is  that  which  gives  even  to  His 
favor  all  its  value ;  so  that  to  be  the  means  of  manifesting  it 
to  the  universe  is  the  crown  of  His  mediatorial  happiness,  as 
it  is  the  end  of  creation. 

And  thus  by  a  circularity  in  the  nature  of  the  mediatorial 
constitution  we  are  brought  back  to  the  point  from  which  we 
set  out  —  that  the  glory  of  God  is  the  chief  end  of  creation. 
It  must  necessarily  have  been  so  independently  of  all  appoint- 
ment ;  and  even  had  there  been  (supposing  an  impossibiUty,) 
an  appointment  to  the  contrary.  For  even  if  a  decree  had 
appointed  that  the  ultimate  end  of  all  things  should  be  the 
well-being  of  the  creature,  the  infinite  capacity  for  enjoyment 
of  the  Divine  Being  would  not  have  allowed  it  to  be  the 
greatest  end ;  since  God  in  beholding,  that  well-being  and  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  glory  which  it  carried  along  with 
it,  would  by  right  and  necessity  of  nature,  enjoy  more  than  all 
the  creatures  together  —  infinitely  more.  And  if  God,  and 
not  the  creature,  would  thus  have  been,  by  necessity  of  nature, 
the  great  end  of  all  things,  we  are  to  suppose  that  He  is  so 
by  choice ;  or  that  He  approves  of,  and  proposes  to  himself, 
as  an  end,  that  which  the  infinite  excellence  of  His  nature 
conditionally  necessitates.  The  great  reason,  then,  accounts 
for  the  primary  purpose ;  the  purpose  originates  the  medial 
relation ;  the  relation  imposes  the  great  obligation ;  and  the 
obligation  is  followed  by  the  right  of  the  being  discharging  it ; 
that  is,  the  last  ensues  on  the  attainment,  or,  in  proportion  to 
the  attainment  of  the  first :  and  thus  the  Mediator,  as  such, 
firids  His  own  end  in  attaining  the  great  end. 


SECOND    PART 


Principles  deducihle  from  the  preceding  Lectures  ;  or,  Laim  of 
the  Manifestation. 

From  the  preceding  scriptural  views  of  that  which  is  predi- 
cable  of  the  Deity,  considered  as  prior  to  the  manifestation  of 
the  divine  all-sufficiency,  and  in  order  to  it,  the  following 
general  deductions  seem  logically  to  result.  Certain  other 
intermediate  principles,  indeed,  might  with  equal  clearness,  be 
inferred ;  but,  for  the  present,  it  is  proposed  to  deal  only  with 
general  truths. 

I. 

That  every  diviyiely  originated  object  and  event  is  a  result,  of 
which  the  supreme  and  ultimate  reason  is  in  the  Divine  Nature. 

By  which  we  mean  that,  not  only  is  a  reason  for  it  to  be 
found  there,  —  this  would  only  acquit  the  Maker  from  a  charge 
of  folly  —  but,  that  the  ultimate  and  adequate  reason  why  it  is, 
and  what  it  is,  is  to  be  found  there.  For,  if  the  origin  of 
everything  which  may  exist  must  be  traced  to  him  as  the  great 
fii'st  cause,  everything  will,  in  some  sense,  be  Hke  him ;  i.  e.,  ii 
will  be,  and  will  be  what  it  is,  when  it  proceeds  from  him, 
because  he  is  what  he  is ;  for  before  it  was  produced,  it  was 
potentially  included  in  him.  Additional  reasons  may  be  found 
in  itself,  and  in  other  parts  of  creation,  to  account  for  its  exist- 
ence. And  of  vast  significance  may  many  of  these  reasons  be 
to  the  creature.  Yet  all  these  will  be  found  subordinate  and 
traceable  to  that  infinite  reason  which  includes,  but  is  inde- 
pendent of  them  all,  as  belonging  to  the  infinite  nature  of  God. 
These  subordinate  reasons  may  be  only  coexistent  with  the 
respective  natures  in  which  they  are  found,  —  beginning  and 
ending,  therefore,  in  some  cases,  within  the  space  of  a  few  short 


LAWS    OF   THE    MANIFESTATION.  5l 

hours  —  soon,  and  perhaps  forever,  to  be  forgotten  by  all  the 
rest  of  creation  :  but  the  infinite  reason  of  their  being  at  all 
existed  from  eternity  in  the  nature  of  God,  and  can  never  cease 
to  exist.  However  insignificant,  comparatively,  any  given 
creature  may  be,  not  only  is  the  reason  of  its  existence  to  be 
sought  in  God,  as  prior  to,  in  the  order  of  time,  and  causative 
of,  that  existence ;  but  as  a  reason  which  approved  itself  to, 
and,  in  some  sense,  expressed  a  property  of  the  divine  nature. 
So  that  even  if  there  were  no  purpose  of  manifesting  Divine 
all-sufficiency,  —  but  the  creation  were  to  be  limited  to  the  pro- 
duction of  a  single  creature  —  still,  as  every  effect  must  be  in 
some  sense  like  its  cause,  that  single  effect  would  be,  (not 
formally  but  virtually,)  a  manifestation,  pro  tanto,  of  the  Divine 
Nature :  in  other  words,  its  ultimate  reason  would  be  found  in 
God. 

And  on  the  same  ground,  every  expression  of  His  will, 
however  it  may  be  made,  whether  by  word  or  act,  will  be  a 
manifestation  of  somethinor  anterior,  viz.  of  the  Divine  Nature. 


n. 

TJiat  everything  sustains  a  relation  to  the  great  purpose^  and 
is  made  subservient  to  it. 

If  our  view  of  the  Divine  purpose  be  correct,  it  will  follow, 
that  besides  the  former  law  of  the  creature's  existence,  by 
which  it  is  what  it  is,  because  God  is  what  he  is,  and  which 
law  can  never  be  superseded ;  there  is  another  law,  arising  from 
the  Divine  purpose,  which  makes  it  a  primary  condition  of  the 
creature's  existence  that  it  should  contribute  in  some  measure 
to  the  Great  IManifestation.  We  can  conceive,  then,  of  a  two- 
fold reason  for  everything,  ac?  extra:  —  the  one,  ari.dng  from 
what  God  w,  the  other  from  what  he  purposes  —  the  former  a 
natural  reason,  the  latter  a  moral  necessity  or  reason  of  Divine 
appointment  —  the  former  looking  back  to  its  origin,  the  latter 
looking  onward  to  its  end.  For  if  the  design  of  the  whole  be 
to  manifest  the  Divine  All-sufficiency,  every  part  of  the  whole 
must  of  course  combine  to  the  same  end.  And  as  nothing 
which  may  exist,  can  have  a  separate,  exclusive,  and  indepen- 
dent end  of  its  own,  everything  will  find  its  own  end,  in  answer- 
ing His. 


52  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 


III. 


Tliat  the  Manifestation  will  he  carried  on  by  a  system  of  means, 
or  medial  relations. 

If  our  view  of  the  great  relation  be  correct,  we  maj  expect, 
that  that  relation,  as  constituting  the  medium  of  the  Divine 
JManifestation,  will  itself  be  manifested ;  or  that,  in  harmony 
with  that  primary  relation,  the  whole  manifestation  will  consist 
of,  or  be  carried  on  by,  a  system  of  corresponding  medial  rela- 
tions, (relations  rising  with  the  rising  nature  of  the  being  sus- 
taining them  ;  )  otherwise,  that  great  relation  itself  will  be  but 
partially  disclosed,  if  it  be  not  even  entirely,  and  for  ever 
unknown. 

Another  reason  for  the  medial  constitution  of  the  Creation, 
is,  that  the  Great  Relation  is  not  merely  the  medium  of  the 
manifestation,  but  an  important  part  of  it ;  just  as  the  sun, 
besides  being  the  medium  of  vision,  is  also  the  most  glorious 
object  of  creation.  Now  as  everything  exists  for  the  Divine 
Manifestation,  of  which  that  relation  itself  is  a  vital  part, 
everything  may  be  expected  to  manifest  that  Relation  by  itself 
sustaining  a  medial  relation. 

And,  as  everything  is  to  express  something  of  the  Divine 
nature,  and  the  Great  Relation  involves  an  infinite  disclosure 
of  that  nature,  everything  may  be  reasonably  expected  to  bear, 
in  some  respects,  the  stamp  of  that  Relation. 

And  further,  —  if,  as  we  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter, 
the  Great  Purpose  requires  that  the  Manifestation  should  be 
progressive,  it  follows  that  it  must  consist  of  a  succession  of 
events,  in  wdiich  each  part  will  necessarily  hold  a  relation  to 
all  the  parts  preceding,  and  following ;  just  as  the  Primary  re- 
lation is  medial  t^tween  the  purpose  and  the  end.  For  we 
can  neither  conceive  of  an  event  which  must  not  be  conceived 
of,  as  being,  in  some  sense,  an  effect ;  nor  of  a  succession  of 
events  which  must  not  be  conceived  of  as  medially  dependent 
and  related.  So  that  viewed  in  connection  w^th  the  second 
law,  which  determines  that  everything  shall  subserve  the  great 
end,  this  determines  the  mode  or  form  in  which  that  subser- 
viency shall  be  rendered  —  by  everything  sustaining  a  relation, 
not  merely  to  that  end,  but  to  everything  else  contributing  to 
that  end  —  a  relation  of  mutual  dependence  and  influence. 


LAWS    OP    THE    MANIFESTATION.  53 


IV. 

That  everything  will  he  found  either^  promoting,  or  under  an 
obligation  to  promote,  the  great  end  commensurate  with  its  means 
and  relations. 

If  our  view  of  the  Great  Relation  be  correct  —  that  it  brings 
him  who  sustains  it  under  obligation  commensurate  with  his 
means  of  answering  the  great  end  —  we  may  expect  to  find, 
that  every  subordinate  relation  will  be  accompanied  by  obHga- 
tions  corresponding  in  their  number  and  amount  with  its  pow- 
er of  promoting  the  end. 

For,  according  to  the  first  law,  it  will  necessarily  express 
sometliing  of  the  Divine  nature ;  and  according  to  the  second 
law,  it  receives  existence  on  the  condition  of  manifesting  that 
resemblance,  and  of  contributing  towards  the  Great  End ; 
and  according  to  the  third,  it  is  placed  in  a  system  of  Medial 
Relations,  in  order  that  such  manifestation  may  be  made  pos- 
sible. 

V. 

That  everything  will  he  entitled  to  an  amount  of  good,  or  of 
well-being,  or  will  he  found  in  the  enjoyment  of  it,  proportionate 
to  the  discharge  of  its  obligations,  or,  to  the  degree  of  its  con^ 
formity  to  the  laws  of  its  being. 

For  as,  according  to  the  first  law,  everything  will  necessarily 
express  something  of  the  Divine  nature ;  and  acco^;ding  to  the 
second,  will  come  into  existence  in  order  to  express  it ;  and 
according  to  the  third,  will  receive  and  sustain  a  relation  in 
which  tQ  fulfil  this  law  of  its  being ;  and  according  to  the 
fourth,  will  be  held  under  obligation  to  this  effect ;  it  will  fol- 
low, according  to  the  fifth,  that  it  cannot  fulfil  this  law  of  its 
being  without  enjoying  well-being.  For,  to  manifest  whatever 
its  nature  is  calculated  to  exhibit  of  God,  is  to  stand  related 
on  one  side  to  the  greatest  of  beings,  and  on  the  other  to  the 
greatest  of  ends ;  so  that  to  fulfil  the  law  of  its  being,  or  to 
find  its  own  highest  end,  is  to  answer  the  Great  end ;  nor 
could  it  be  supposed  to  be  in  any  way  deprived  of  its  right, 
while  thus  fulfilling  the  law  of  its  being,  without  the  great  end 
itself  being,  in  so  far,  defeated.  And  here  is  the  coincidence 
of  the  creature's  happiness  with  the  Creator's  glory. 

For  example ;  if  the  intelligent  creature  can  do  the  same 
thing  in  obedience  to  different  laws,  his  happiness  can  never 
5* 


54  THE    TRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

rise  above  the  law  which  lie  fulfils  ;  and  if  that  law  be  a  lower 
one,  v.'hen  it  might,  and  therefore  ought  to  be  a  higher  one  — 
i.  e.  if  the  higher  be  sacrificed  to  the  lower,  —  though  obedi- 
ence to  the  lower  may  not  be  unattended  with  reward  or  grat- 
ification, —  the  painful  sense  of  having  violated,  or  disregarded 
the  higher,  will  more  than  counterbalance  the  gratification. 

According  to  these  five  laws,  then,  everything  may  be  viewed, 
in  its  origin ;  its  ultimate  design  ;  the  way  in  which  it  answers 
that  design ;  its  obligation  to  do  this  as  the  necessary  means 
to  an  end ;  its  consequent  share  in  the  great  end.  Or,  in  it- 
self, as  a  separate  and  isolated  product  of  the  Divine  Being ; 
in  its  intended  subserviency  to  the  great  end ;  in  the  nature  of 
that  subserviency,  or  the  relations  which  it  sustains  in  the  great 
system  of  mutual  dependencies ;  in  the  obligatory  fulfilment 
of  this  great  conditional  law  of  its  existence ;  in  the  natural 
and  necessary  results  of  such  fulfilment,  in  its  own  well-being. 
The  jirst  law  determines  that  it  shall  he  —  bear  a  resemblance 
to  God.  The  second,  why  it  shall  be  —  as  a  manifestation  of 
that  resemblance,  in  subserviency  to  the  Great  End.  The 
third,  hoiu  \i  shall  do  this  —  as  a  part  of  a  great  system  of 
means.  The  fourth,  the  indispensable  necessity  of  doing  it  — 
as  means  to  an  end.  And  the  ffth,  what  shall  result  to  it 
from  answering  that  End. 

According  to  the  first  law,  it  may  be  said,  that  everything 
looks  back  to  its  origin.  —  According  to  the  second,  forwards  to 
its  ultimate  end. —  According  to  the  third,  around,  to  its  medial 
relations.  —  According  to  the  fourth,  on  the  duty  consecpient 
on  these  relations.  —  And  according  to  the  fifth,  ivithin,  on  its 
own  well-being,  or  particular  end,  as  the  result  of  ans^vering 
the  Ultimate  End. 


VI. 

That  everything  will  le  found  to  involve  the  existence  of  neces- 
sary truth. 

By  necessary  trutli  is  meant  that  of  which  the  proposition 
not  only  is,  but  must  be  true,  and  of  which,  therefore,  the  ne- 
gation is  not  only  false  but  impossible  ;  so  that  it  exists  neces- 
sarily, and  therefore  universally,  independently  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  individual  intellect  which  contem})lates  it.  The 
origin  of  our  knowledge  of  it,  whether  by  induction,  or  other- 
wise, is  a  question  ibr  sej)arate  consideration. 

The  possibility  of  the  manifestation,  for  example,  pre-sup- 


LAWS    OF    THE    MANIFESTATION.  65 

poses  tlie  Bxislence  of  certain  necessary  truths.  It  pre-supposes 
the  existence  oi  space  and  duration  in  which  this  manifestation 
is  to  be  made  —  pre-snpposes  them  as  conditions  of  the  mani- 
festation. For,  as  nothing  outward  can  be  conceived  of,  with- 
out space  —  and  notliing  existing,  without  time  in  wliich  to 
exist,  it  follows  that  everything  7nust  be,  in  some  sense,  related 
to  space  and  time,  or  be  included  in  them  ;  and  therefore  space 
and  duration  must  have  existed  prior  to,  and  independently  of, 
the  manifestation.  It  pre-supposes  also  the  possibility  of  caus- 
ation, for  it  involves  the  necessity  that  every  event  shall  be,  in 
some  sense,  an  effect ;  and  this  proposition,  therefore,  would 
have  been  true,  even  if  the  manifestation  had  never  taken 
place.  It  pre-supposes,  then,  the  existence  of  the  Great  First 
Cause  or  Being  to  be  manifested,  whose  absolutely  unlimited 
perfection,  suppose  infinite  space  and  infinite  duration  ;  and, 
consequently,  whose  existence  would  have  been  a  truth  even  if 
the  manifestation  had  never  been  made.  And  thus  as  the 
purpose  refers  us  to  the  Great  Reason  of  which  it  is  simply 
and  necessarily  the  expression,  and  as  the  Great  Reason  is  all 
that  it  is  necessarily,  or  independently  of  everything  ad  extra, 
so  every  event  included  in  that  purpose,  being  an  effect  or  ex- 
pression of  that  reason,  will  sustain  some  relation  to  the  neces- 
sary and  the  independent. 

vn. 

Tliat  everytJdng  will  he  found  to  involve  the  existence  of  con- 
tingent truth. 

By  contingent  truth  is  meant  that  of  which  the  existence  is 
not  necessary,  but  conditional  —  true,  because  something  else 
is  true  ;  or  dependent  for  its  truth  on  something  else. 

As  the  possibility  of  the  manifestation  pre-supposes  the  ex- 
istence of  necessary  truth,  so  the  purpose  of  the  manifestation 
implies  the  existence  of  contingent  truth  —  contingent,  that  is, 
in  the  sense  already  explained,  as  opposed  to  absolutely  neces- 
sary. For  had  the  manifestation  been  necessary  in  any  other 
sense  than  that  of  being  infinitely  desirable,  or  morally  neces- 
sary, no  purpose  of  manifestation  needed  to  have  been  formed. 
And  then,  as  the  great  purpose  itself  was  contingent  on  the 
Sovereign  will  of  God,  so  every  part  of  the  internal  arrange- 
ments of  the  plan  {provided  they  secure  the  fulfilment  of  the 
purpose,  or  the  manifestation  of  divine  all-suf^ciency,)  must  be 
contingent  also,  or  dependent  on  "  the  good  pleasure  "  of  that 


5G  THE    PRE- AD  AMITE    EARTH. 

will  in  which  the  purpose  itself  originated.  For  if,  in  the 
sense  described,  the  whole  be  contingent,  the  parts  must  be 
also ;  nor  could  such  contingency  remain  unknown,  without 
defeating  the  ultimxite  end  of  the  manifestation. 

vni. 

Thai  everything  iviU  he  found,  hy  necessity  of  nature,  and  as 
a  relative  perfection  essential  to  the  manifestation  of  Divine  all- 
sivfficiency,  to  involve  truth  surpassing  the  perfect  comprehension 
of  the  finite  mind — i.  e.  there  will  he  ultimate  facts. 

For  if  it  were  absolutely  and  in  every  sense  comprehensible, 
it  could  be  only,  to  created  minds,  the  representation  of  some- 
thing absolutely  finite  and  limited.  But  such  a  thing  is  incon- 
ceivable. For  as  everything  must  be  related,  in  some  respect, 
to  time,  space,  and  causation,  as  well  as  to  every  other  thing 
included  in  the  plan,  —  in  consequence  of  these  relations,  if  in 
no  other  respects,  it  will  stand  connected  with  the  infinite,  and 
incomprehensible.  So  that  wliile  the  Great  Purpose  requires 
that  it  should  manifest  something  of  God,  its  relation  to  the 
Great  Reason  will  leave  it  involved,  in  some  respects,  in  the 
necessary  and  the  universal. 

And  thus  it  will  at  once  proclaim  its  origin  and  answer  its 
end. 

IX. 

That  the  manifestation  he  progressive  ;  or,  that  the  production 
ofneio  effects,  or  the  introduction  of  new  laws,  he  itself  a  Law  of 
Manifestation. 

For  were  it  to  terminate  at  any  given  point,  the  proof  of 
all-sufiiciency  for  unlimited  manifestation  would  terminate  with 
it.  ^  Besides  which,  all-sufficiency,  from  its  very  nature,  re- 
quires infinity  and  eternity  in  which  to  be  developed,  for  it 
implies  sufficiency  for  nothing  less  than  these.  But  if  tlie 
development  of  the  Great  Purpose,  or  the  attainment  of  tiio 
Great  End,  be  in  its  very  nature  progressive,  this  is  only  say- 
ing that  the  process  must  ever  be  kept  open  to  receive  the 
addition  of  new  effects,  or  the  superinduction  of  new  laws. 
So  that  the  law  of  uniformity  itself  will  always  be  subject  to, 
or  bounded  by,  this  more  general  law  of  Progression :  just 
as  this  more  general  law  itself  will  always  be  Subject  to  the 
law  of  the  end,  to  which  all  particular  lawb  owe  thoir  existence, 


LAAVS    OP    THE   MANIFESTATION.  57 

and  from  wliicli  they  derive  their  authority.  And  this  again 
is  only  saying  that  the  end  shall  not  be  subject  to  the  means  r 
but  that  the  Great  Purpose  shall  be  carried  into  effect. 

So  that,  that  which  is  commonly  regarded  as  miraculous  in- 
terj^osition  may  be  itself  a  law  of  the  manifestation  —  not  the 
exception,  but  the  rule  —  or  if  the  exception  to  us  wdio  view 
things  only  on  the  scale  of  a  few  days,  to  Him  who  views  them 
on  an  unlimited  scale  it  may  be  the  rule. 

X. 

That  the  manifestation^  besides  being  progressive,  will  be  con- 
tinuous ;  or  will  be  progressive  by  being  continuous  —  leaving  no 
intervals  of  time,  or  of  degree,  but  such  as  the  modifying  influence 
of  other  laics  rnay  require  or  account  for. 

For  were  it  to  leave  such  intervals,  except  on  such  condi- 
tions, the  proof  of  all-sufficiency  for  fdling  them  up  w^ould  be 
vvanting.  Besides  which,  if  all-sufficiency  requires  infinity, 
and  eternity,  in  which  to  be  developed,  intervals  in  the  mani- 
festation of  time  and  of  degree  are  inadmissible ;  unless  on 
the  supposition  that  such  intervals  or  pauses  in  the  manifesta- 
tion would  themselves  contribute  to  the  manifestation  of  all- 
sufficiency. 

It  may  be  expected  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  lay  one's 
finger  on  the  line  which  separates  any  one  province  of  knowl- 
edge from  that  which  lies  next.  To  complain  of  a  theory, 
therefore,  that  it  combines  and  synthesizes,  is  to  complain  that 
it  treats  of  things  as  they  are ;  or,  as  God  has  made  them. 
Since  it  belongs  to  the  perfection  of  these  things,  that  they 
should  not  admit  of  isolation ;  if  they  did,  they  would  not  and 
could  not  belong  to  a  system  of  progressive  and  continuous 
manifestation. 


XL 

That  the  Continuity  of  the  manifestation  requires  that  all  tht 
laws  and  j'csidts  of  the  past  should  in  some  sense,  be  carried  for- 
wards ;  and  that  all  that  is  characteristic  in  the  lower  steps  of  the 
process  shoidd  be  carried  up  into  the  higher  —  as  far  as  it  may 
suhservc  the  great  end  ;  or  unless  it  shoidd  be  superseded  by  some- 
thing analogous  and  superior  in  the  higher,  and  tJie  future. 

For  if  it  w^ere  not,  the  manifestation  would  be  neither  pro- 
gressive, nor  continuous,  but  would  be  every  moment  begin- 


58  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ning  de  novo.  Everything  would  be  isolated.  After  the  man- 
ifestation had  continued  for  untold  ages,  all  the  past  v/ould  be 
unknown  and  lost  to  the  present,  and  to  all  the  future.  And 
the  proof  of  all-sufficiencj,  for  such  a  continuity  of  manifesta- 
tion as  that  expressed  in  the  proposition,  would  be  forever 
wanting. 

xn. 

That  everything  luill  he  found  to  manifest  all  that  it  is  calcu- 
lated to  exhibit  of  the  Divine  Nature,  by  developing,  or  working 
out  its  oxen  nature. 

For  as,  according  to  the  First  law,  we  are  to  expect  that 
everything,  per  se,  and  separately  considered,  will  exhibit  some- 
thing of  God  from  mere  necessity  of  nature  — just  as  the 
purpose  of  manifesting  Divine  all-sufficiency  brought  to  light 
necessarily,  and  independently  of  all  intention,  the  Divine  self- 
sufficiency,  so,  according  to  the  Second  law,  we  are  apt  to  ex- 
pect, that  as  it  is  only  by  the  activity  of  the  Divine  Nature, 
that  that  nature  is  made  manifest,  every  being  will  be  found 
to  manifest  all  that  is  calculated  to  exhibit  of  God's  nature, 
by  properly  manifesting,  or,  working  out  its  own.  The  mere 
formation  of  the  purpose  implies  the  acting  of  the  Divine 
]\Iind ;  the  accomplishment  of  that  purpose,  especially  as  it  is 
a  purpose  of  self-manifestation,  clearly  supposes  self-activity 
also ;  —  the  manifestation  of  Divine  all-sulficiency  evidently 
requires  that  that  activity  should  be  constant,  unending,  and 
all-comprehensive.  A  creation,  then,  devoid  of  regulated  ac- 
tivity, could  be  no  manifestation  of  an  everliving  and  ever- 
active  God.  Such  a  creation  (were  its  existence  possible)  would 
less  represent  him  than  would  the  absence  of  all  external  ob- 
jects ;  for,  as  a  Divine  manifestation,  it  would  essentially  mis- 
represent him.  For  how  could  that  which  neither  moved  uor 
was  moved  —  which  evinced  no  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end 
— no  capacity  of  enjoyment — that  which  couM  receive  nothing 
from  without,  and  which  involved  nothing  from  within  —  that, 
therefore,  which  knew  nothing,  did  nothing,  and,  in  effect,  was 
nothing— -do  anything  but  misrepresent  Him  who  is  AH  in 
All  ?  The  existence  of  such  a  universe  is  inconceivable.  It 
is  only  by  a  universe  of  activity,  then,  that  He  can  be  manifest- 
ed to  whose  activity  the  universe  owes  its  existence. 

Still  more  may  an  active  niiture  be  expected  in  that  order 
of  creatures  wliosc  distinction  it  is  to  be,  that  not  only  by  them, 


i.\\V3    OF    TUJ.    :iTAXTFF,STATTON.  59 

but  to  them,  the  manilestation  will  be  made.  For  such  activity 
may  be  looked  for  in  thciu  if  only  to  hclj)  them  to  understand, 
hy  sympatJiy,  i\\e  same  property  in  the  Divine  Nature.  And 
still  more  complete  would  this  resemblance  to  their  Maker  be, 
if  certain  possibilities  of  active  excellence  could  be  stored  up 
in  them,  and  if  these  could  in  some  way  be  put  at  their  dispo- 
sal, or  under  the  power  of  their  will ;  so  that,  as  the  Divine 
activity,  ad  extra,  has  been  voluntary,  their  activity  might 
resemble  his  in  this  essential  respect  —  that  it  be  voluntary 
also. 

The  grounds  which  the  other  laws  afford  for  the  same  ex- 
pectation of  activity  in  the  intelligent  creature  are  too  obvious 
to  require  extended  notice.  For  if  the  first  provides  for  it  by 
imparting  to  him  a  measure  of  Divine  resemblance,  and  the 
second  by  making  his  manifestation  of  that  resemblance  the 
condition  of  his  existence,  the  third  enables  him  to  fulfil  that 
condition,  by  placing  him  in  a  constitution  of  medial  relations, 
where  his  activity  will  be  felt,  the  fourth  makes  such  activity 
obligatory,  and  the  fifth  rew^ards  it  in  his  own  well  being,  or 
attainment  of  the  Great  End. 


XIII. 

That  the  same  property  or  characteristic  which  existed  in  the 
ptreceding  and  inferior  stage  of  the  manifestation,  he  superior  in 
the  succeeding  and  higher  stages,  or  else  be  applied  to  additional 
or  higher  purposes,  (if  it  be  not  altogether  superseded  by  some- 
thing superior ;)  or,  that  it  he  in  the  power  of  the  succeeding,  and 
the  higher,  so  to  render  or  to  apply  it. 

For  as,  by  the  great  law  of  the  Manifestation,  everything 
is  in  alliance  and  dependence ;  and  as  everything  looks  on  to 
an  end  beyond  itself,  its  nature,  or  its  relations  and  results, 
may  be  expected  to  advance,  the  further  it  proceeds  from  its 
original  starting-point  towards  the  distant  end,  for  the  sake  of 
which  it  exists. 

XIV. 

That  as  every  law  will  have  an  origin  or  date,  it  will  coim 
into  operation  on  each  individual  subject  of  it,  according  to  its 
priority  of  date  in  the  great  system  of  manifestation. 

For  as,  by  the  law  of  continuity  with  pi'ogression,  every  law 
has  come  into  operation  in  orderly  succession,  that  order  of 


CO  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH- 

succession  is  itself  a,  law  :  and  as  laws  operate  uniformly  Ibi 
tlie  same  reason  that  they  operate  at  all  —  viz.,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  manifestation  —  the  order  of  their  introduction  at  first 
into  the  general  system,  could  not  be  dispensed  Vvith  in  any  of 
the  subsequent  stages  or  parts  of  the  manifestation,  without 
defeatins:  the  desis-n  of  their  introduction  at  all. 


XV. 

That  everything  will  occupy  a  relation  in  the  great  system  oj 
means,  and  possess  a  right  in  relation  to  everything  else,  accord- 
ing to  its  power  of  subserving  the  end;  or,  everything  will  hring 
in  it  and  with  it,  in  its  own  capability  of  subserving  the  end,  a 
reason  why  all  other  things  should  be  influenced  by  it  —  a  reason 
for  the  degree  in  which  they  shoidcl  be  influenced — and  for  the 
degree  in  which  it,  in  its  turn,  shoidd  be  influenced  hy  everything 
else. 

For  if,  according  to  the  first  law,  everything,  by  necessity 
of  nature,  expresses  some  property  of  the  Divine  Nature  :  —  if, 
according  to  the  second,  it  possesses  that  resemblajice  on  the  sole 
condition  of  manifesting  it  in  subserviency  to  the  Great  End . 
—  if,  according  to  the  third,  it  is  medially  related  to  every- 
thing else,  that  it  may  be  able  to  make  the  manifestation  :  —  and 
if,  according  to  the  fourth,  it  is  bound  to  fulfil  the  Great  Pur- 
pose, according  to  its  means  and  relations,  then  everything  will 
sustain  an  active  and  a  passive  relation,  or  will  have  a  right  tc 
influence  everything  of  inferior,  and  a  susceptibility  of  being 
influenced  by  everything  of  superior,  subserviency  to  the  Great 
End. 

So  that  (according  to  the  all-connecting  purpose)  co-exist- 
ence implies  co-relation,  co-relation  involves  mutual  obligation 
or  subserviency,  determinable  as  to  kind  and  degree,  in  every 
instance,  by  the  subserviency  of  the  subjects  of  it  to  the  Great 
End. 

XVI. 

Tliat  every  law  subordinate  in  rank,  though  it  may  have  been 
trior  in  date,  be  subject  to  each  higher  law  of  the  Manifestation, 
IS  it  comes  into  operation. 

This,  indeed,  is  a  corollary  from  the  preceding,  and  is  only 
raying,  in  efiect,  that  in  no  case  sliall  the  means  be  put  in  the 
place  of  the  end.     But  if  the  means  are  to  be  always  subordi- 


LAWS    OF    THE    MANIFESTATION.  61 

nate  to  the  end,  then,  as  everything  is  related,  every  inferior 
law  must  sustain  a  relation  of  subordination  to  every  higher 
law  of  the  Manifestation. 


xvn. 

That  the  whole  process  of  manifestation  he  conducted  uniform- 
ly^ as  far  as  the  end  requires,  or  according  to  the  operation  of 
laws. 

(By  law  is  meant  a  constant  relation,  or  an  order  of  sequence, 
according  to  which,  if  one  event  occur,  another  will  follow.) 
This,  the  great  reason  requires,  for  it  supposes  that  every  event 
will  be,  in  some  sense,  an  effect,  (which  is  itself  a  law)  :  anc^ 
that  divinely  originated  effect  will,  when  traced  back  to  its  or- 
igin, be  found  t©  express  something  in  the  Divine  nature. 

The  Great  Purpose  requires  it :  for  it  is  only  by  the  uniform- 
ity supposed  that  the  immutability  of  the  Divine  nature,  or  even 
the  Divine  existence,  could  be  evinced ;  or  indeed,  that  proof 
of  any  kind  could  be  made  possible.  Farther,  the  Great  Pur- 
pose necessarily  supposes  a  series  of  effects :  and  that  as  often 
as  God  should  will,  the  same  effect  would  follow  from  the  same 
volition ;  otherwise  He  could  not  be  certain  that  the  end  would 
ever  be  attained.  Besides  which,  as  the  piM-pose  of  an  infi- 
nitely perfect  being,  it  is  pursued  on  a  plan,  and  a  plan  sup- 
poses the  orderly  arrangement  and  concurrent  operation  of 
distinct  sequences  of  events,  for  the  attainment  of  a  certain 
end.  It  was  only  on  the  same  supposition,  of  the  operation 
of  general  laws,  as  far  as  the  end  requires,  that  the  Mediator 
could  assume  the  great  Relation^  or  undertake  to  discharge 
the  Obligation,  or  calculate  on  the  enjoyment  of  his  exalted 
Right.  Indeed,  the  proposition  that  the  manifestation  will  be 
conducted  by  general  laws,  is  involved  in  the  statement  of  all 
the  preceding  laws ;  for  each  of  these  statements  is  an  attempt 
to  define  them. 

xvm. 

That  every  part  of  the  manifestation  he  analogous  to  every 
other  part,  or  according  to  a  plan. 

(By  analogy  is  here  meant,  generally,  a  similarity  of  rela- 
tion between  things  in  some  characteristic  respects,  when  in 
other  respects,  the  things  are  different.) 

The  truth  of  this  proposition  may  be  inferred  from  the  per- 
6 


62  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

vading  operation  of  general  laws  :  from  tlie  pri7nary  relation^ 
according  to  wliich  lie  who  is  to  conduct  the  great  process  sus- 
tains his  office  expressly  as  the  Logos  or  manifestation  of  God ; 
so  that  everything  else  can  answer  the  end  of  manifestation 
only  as  it  is  analogous,  according  to,  or,  in  some  respect,  re- 
sembling the  Logos  :  from  the  Great  Purpose  ;  for,  if  the  whole 
creation  is  to  be,  in  some  sense,  an  analogue  of  the  Divine  na- 
ture, (and  in  no  other  way  can  it  manifest  God)  then,  every 
separate  portion  of  it  must  be  similarly  related  to  every  other 
part,  otherwise  the  luhole  will  not  resemble  Him.  If  the  first 
act  be  an  act  of  manifestation,  and  every  subsequent  act  be  a 
counterpart  to  all  that  has  gone  before,  then  the  last  of  any 
given  series  will,  to  some  extent,  correspond  to  the  first  —  each 
will  be  a  measured  resemblance  of  all,  that  the  whole  may  be 
a  manifestation  of  God.  If  the  whole  is  to  be  a  manifesta- 
tion, it  must  be  known;  if  known,  classed;  (for  only  a  very 
few  things  could  be  known  if  each  were  isolated  and  unlike 
everything  else)  and  if  classed,  possessing  similarity  of  re- 
lation. 

XIX. 

That  the  law ^  ever-enlarging  manifestation  he  itself  regulated 
hy  a  law  determning  the  time  for  each  successive  stage  and  ad- 
dition in  the  great  process. 

The  time^  for  the  change  in  any  given  department  of  the 
Divine  manifestation,  will  of  course  be  determined  iri  a  man- 
ner,^ and  for  a  reason,  diflTering  with  the  particular  nature  and 
design  of  the  department :  — by  each  existing  stage  passing 
through  all  the  combinations  and  changes  of  which  it  admits, 
before  another  begins ;  or,  by  its  existing  long  enough  to  show 
that  it  involves  all  the  necessary  possibiHties  for  answering  such 
and  such  ends,  if  its  continuance  be  permitted ;  or,  until  it  has 
sufficiently  taught  the  Specific  truth,  and  attained  the  proxi- 
mate and  particular  end,  for  which  it  was  originated. 
_  But,  whatever  the  particidar  reason  for  determining  the  pe- 
riod of  change  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  law  of  the  time 
and  the  occasion  for  every  change  must  harmonize  with  the 
Great  End  of  the  whole  —  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  All- 
sufficiency.  For,  were  a  stage  of  the  manifestation  to  be  re- 
called or  replaced  a  moment  before  it  had,  in  some  way,  demon 
strated  the  all-sufficiency  of  God  for  that  particular  stage,  the 
Great  Purpose  would  not  be  answered. 


LAWS    OF    THE    MANIFESTATION.  63 

From  which  it  follows  that  no  such  change  or  interposition 
takes  place  arbitrarily ;  but,  as  the  laws  of  progression,  and  of 
the  end,  require  it. 

And  that  the  length  of  the  time  which  may  be  allowed  to 
elapse,  after  the  introduction  of  one  law  or  change,  before  the 
introduction  of  another,  so  far  from  growing  into  an  objection 
against  any  further  addition  or  change,  becomes,  in  a  progres- 
sive system,  an  ever-increasing  ground  for  expecting  it. 

XX. 

That  the  beings  to  whom  this  Manifestation  is  to  he  made,  and 
by  whom  it  is  to  be  understood,  appreciated,  and  voluntarily  pro- 
moted, must  be  constituted  in  harmony  with  these  laws  ;  or,  these 
laws  of  the  objective  universe  will  be  found  to  have  been  establish- 
ed in  prospective  harmony  with  the  designed  constitution  and  the 
destiny  of  the  subjective  mind  which  is  to  expound  and  to  profit 
by  them. 

The  truth  of  this  proposition,  if  not  self-evident,  will  receive 
abundant  illustration  when,  in  a  subsequent  volume,  it  comea 
under  consideration. 


THIRD    PART. 
ORG  ANI  C     NATURE. 


TTie  First  Stage  of  the  Manifestation, 

POWER. 

1.  Order  of  the  Manifestation. —  The  great  end  of  creation, 
then,  is  supposed  to  be  the  gradual  manifestation  of  Divine 
all-sufficiency.  Now,  travelling  back,  in  thought,  to  the  eve 
of  creation,  "  Here,"  we  might  say,  "  here  is  an  infinite  expanse 
of  unoccupied  space  in  which  the  great  end  is  to  be  realized ; 
what  will  be  the  first  step  ?  or  with  what  will  the  manifesta- 
tion commence  ?  Li  what  order,  and  at  what  rate,  will  it  pro- 
ceed ?  ^  What  extent  of  space  will  it  occupy  ?  What  possibil- 
ities will  it  involve?  Of  how  many  parts  or  stages  will  it 
consist  ?  Will  it,  or  will  it  not,  have  any  special  scene  or 
scenes  of  operation  ?  " 

That  these  are  subjects  which  occupied  the  Divine  mind  — 
not,  indeed,  as  questions  which  admitted  of  hesitation  —  but  as 
parts  of  His  one  great  purpose,  is  evident ;  for  they  are  actu- 
ally suggested  by  the  fact  of  what  He  has  done ;  and  He  does 
nothing  which  He  has  not  purposed  to  do.  Now,  imagining 
ourselves  in  the  situation  supposed,  and  taking  along  with  us 
the  laws  which  we  have  derived  from  the  Scriptural  view  of 
the  Nature  and  Purpose  of  God,  we  might  have  justly  reasoned 
that  if  the  Divine  purpose  requires  that  the  creation  be  pro- 
gressive, it  might  be  expected  to  determine  also  the  order  of 
the  progression,  or  what  perfection  of  the  Deity  shall  be  first 
displayed,  as  well  as  the  act  or  means  by  which  the  display 
shall  be  made.  In  tlie  nature  of  the  case,  there  is  nothing,  ah 
extra,  to  determine  either  with  what  the  manifestation  shall 
begin,  or  how  it  shall  proceed.     Even  if  there  were,  inasmuch 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  G5 

as  the  great  object  of  creation  is  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
perfections,  the  order  of  the  process  must  be  reguhited  by  the 
order  prescribed  by  the  object  of  the  Divine  purpose -7- the 
means  must  be  made  subservient  to  the  end.  But  there  is 
nothing  ah  extra.,  so  that  there  is  a  necessity  as  well  as  a  rea- 
son, why  the  order  of  the  manifestation  should  take  the  order 
best  adapted  for  the  attainment  of  the  Divine  purpose,  and 
prescribed  by  it. 

Whether  there  is  any  order,  then,  in  the  Divine  purpose, 
and,  if  so,  what  that  order  is,  are  among  tlie  very  things  to  be 
manifested.  Now,  according  to  the  constitution  of  the  human 
mind,  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion  that  such  order  exists ;  and 
that  the  earliest  display  of  the  Divine  Nature  will  be  that  of 
a  perfection  fundamental  to  all  the  rest,  namely,  Power.  It 
may  here  be  proper  to  observe,  though  it  is  only,  in  effect,  tlie 
repetition  of  a  remark  in  our  first  Part,  that  by  the  Divine 
perfections  we  do  not  understand. "  a  congeries  of  separate  and 
separable  attributes,  like  the  members  of  an  organized  body," 
one  of  which  may  be  exercised  at  one  time  and  another  at 
another ;  but  the  same  one  unitive  perfection,  exhibiting  itself 
in  a  variety  of  phases  and  aspects  with  a  view  to  entire  mani- 
festation. And  according  to  the  constitution  of  our  minds, 
there  is  a  certain  order  in  which  these  different  aspects  may 
be  viewed ;  by  which  we  gain  sight  of  an  additional  character- 
istic or  perfection  at  each  view ;  and  are  prepared  by  each 
foregoing  perfection  for  the  contemplation  of  each  succeeding 
one. 

Now  the  first  and  the  only  simple  attribute  of  whose  mani- 
festation we  can  conceive  is  that  of  Power.  The  display  of 
every  other  attribute  supposes  the  co-existence  and  manifest 
co-operation  of  this  in  order  to  its  display.  But  the  exercise 
of  this  does  not  necessarily  suppose  the  manifest  co-oj)eration 
of  any  other.  For  although,  in  the  case  of  an  infinitely  per- 
fect Being,  we  can  never  conceive  of  power  exercised  apart 
from  intelligence,  we  can  conceive  (and  the  case  before  us  is 
one  in  which  we  are  conscious  of  the  conception)  of  an  act  of 
combined  intelligence  and  power,  1  of  which,  while  the  power 
should  be  so  self-evident  and  awful  as  suddenly  to  fill  us  with 


'  Indeed,  if  this  were  the  place,  it  might  be  shown  that  even  the  infer- 
ence of  design,  is  subsequent  to  the  observation  of  the  adjustments  and 
adaptations  of  nature,  as  that  again  must  necessarily  be  subsequent  to 
the  production  of  tlic  tilings  adjusted. 


66  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

amazeme;.!,  the  intelligence  which  it  involved,  owing  to  V^ 
very  depth,  should  be  completely  hidden  from  our  view,  air.d 
require  the  lapse  of  ages  for  its  development.  In  this  case  we 
should  contemplate  power  in  its  simplest  form  —  that  of  causa- 
tion ;  —  a  mighty  moral  cause  producing  a  stupendous  elfect.i 

2.  Antiquity  of  the  Earth.  —  If,  according  to  our  first  law, 
every  divinely-originated  event  is  a  result' of  which  the  supreme 
and  ultimate  reason  is  in  the  Divine  Nature,  it  might  have  been 
expected  that  the  order  of  the  Divine  perfections,  or  else  the 
nature  of  the  Divine  Purpose,  would  determine  the  order  of 
the  creative  process,  and  that  the  opening  act  would  be  %,  dis- 
play of  power.  But  if,  by  one  law,  we  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  first  act  of  manifestation  will  be  a  display  of 
power,  the  law  of  progression  suggests  that  that  display  will 
be  made  by  an  act  to  which  we  can  conceive  no  act  antece- 
dent; one  which  is  not  merely  introductory  to  every  other, 
but  preparatory  to  the  whole  —  first  in  the  order  of  nature  as 
well  as  of  time. 

Now  revelation  and  science  harmonize  with  reason,  and  are 
decisive  on  the  subject  that,  as  far  as  the  visible  universe  is 
concerned,  the  formation  of  its  material  preceded  the  forma- 
tion of  everything  else.  Turning  first  to  the  inspired  record 
to  ascertain  the  origin  of  things  as  they  now  are,  we  learn,  of 
our  earrii,  that  it  assumed  its  present  state  a  few  thousands  of 
years  ago,  in  consequence  of  a  creative  process,  or  of  a  series 
of  creative  acts  concluding  with  the  creation  of  man,  which 
extended  through  a  period  of  six  ordinary  or  natural  days. 
Possessed  of  this  fact  respecting  the  date  of  man's  introduc- 
tion on  the  earth,  we  proceed  to  examine  the  globe  itself.  And 
here  we  find  that  the  mere  shell  of  the  earth  takes  us  back 
through  an  unknown  series  of  ages,  in  which  creation  appears 
to  have  followed  creation  at  the  distance  of  vast  intervals  be- 
tween. 

But  though  in  the  progress  of  our  inquiries  we  soon  find 
that  we  have  cleared  the  bounds  of  historic  time,  and  are  mov- 

^  I  believe  that  we  derive  the  idea  of  causation  —  vohmtaty  or  efficient 
causation  —  from  consciousness:  that  besides  the  constant  connection 
which  we  obsei-ve  between  pliysical  causes  and  eifects,  we  are  conscious 
of  exerting  a  power  in  the  et]^■ccts  which  we  ourselves  produce  on  matter 
subject  to  us ;  that  this  consciousness  awakens  the  idea  of  voluntary 
causation ;  and  that  tliis  idea  leads  to  the  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
First  cause.  But  the  psyc-hological  views  to  which  the  discussion  of  tliis 
question  would  lead,  belong  to  another  treatise. 


i:?fOKGANIC    NATURE.  G7 

ing  far  back  among  the  periods  of  an  unmeasured  and  immea- 
surable antiquity,  the  geologist  can  demonstrate  that  the  crust 
of  the  earth  has  a  natural  history.  That  he  cannot  determine 
the  chronology  of  its  successive  strata  is  quite  immaterial.  We 
only  ask  him  to  prove  the  order  of  their  position  from  the 
newest  deposit  to  the  lowest  step  of  the  series ;  and  this  he  can 
do.  For  nature  itself — by  a  force  calculable  only  by  the 
God  of  nature  —  lifting  up  in  places  the  whole  of  the  stupen- 
dous series  in  a  slanting,  ladder-like,  direction  to  the  surface, 
has  revealed  to  him  the  order  in  which  they  were  originally 
laid,  and  iuvites  him  to  descend  step  by  step  to  its  awful  found- 
ations. 

Let  us  descend  with  him,  and  traverse  an  ideal  section  of  a 
portion  of  the  earth's  crust.  Quitting  the  living  surface  of  the 
green  earth,  and  entering  on  our  downward  path,  our  first 
step  may  take  us  below  the  dust  of  Adam,  and  beyond  the 
limits  of  recorded  time.  From  the  moment  we  leave  the  mere 
surface-soil,  and  touch  even  the  nearest  of  the  tertiary  beds,  all 
traces  of  human  rem.ains  disappear,  so  that  let  our  grave  be 
as  shallow  as  it  may  in  even  the  latest  stratified  bed,  we  have 
to  make  it  in  the  dust  of  a  departed  world.  Formation  now 
follows  formation,  composed  chiefly  of  sand,  and  clay,  and  lime, 
and  presenting  a  thickness  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet  each. 
#lS  we  descend  through  these,  one  of  the  most  sublime  fictions 
of  mythology  becomes  sober  truth,  for  at  our  every  step  an 
•age  flies  past.  We  find  ourselves  on  a  road  where  the  lapse 
of  duration  is  marked  —  not  by  the  succession  of  seasons  and 
©f  years,  —  but  by  the  slow  excavation,  by  water,  of  deep  val- 
leys in  rock  marble ;  by  the  return  of  a  continent  to  the  bosom 
of  an  ocean  in  which  ages  before  it  had  been  slowly  formed ; 
or  by  the  departure  of  one  world  and  the  formation  of  another. 
And,  accordingly,  if  our  first  step  took  us  below  the  line  which 
is  consecrated  by  human  dust,  we  have  to  take  but  a  few  steps 
more,  before  we  begin  to  find  that  the  fossil  remains  of  all 
those  forms  of  animal  life  with  which  we  are  most  familiar, 
are  diminishing,  and  that  their  places  are  gradually  supplied 
by  strange  and  yet  stranger  forms ;  till,  in  the  last  fossiliferous 
formation  of  this  division,  traces  of  existing  species  become 
extremely  rare,  and  extinct  species  everywhere  predominate. 

The  secondary  rocks  receive  us  as  into  a  new  fossiliferous 
world,  or  into  a  new  series  of  worlds.  Taking  the  chalk  form- 
ation as  the  first  member  of  this  series,  we  find  a  stratification 
upwards  of  a  thousand  feet  thick.     Who  shall  compute  the 


68  THE    riiE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

tracts  of  time  necessary  for  its  slow  sedimentary  deposition ! 
So  vast  was  it,  and  so  widely  different  were  its  physical  condi- 
tions from  those  which  followed,  that  scarcely  a  trace  of  animal 
species  still  living  is  to  be  found  in  it.  Crowded  as  it  is  with 
conchological  remains,  for  example  not  more  than  a  shell  or 
two  of  all  the  seven  thousand  existing  species  are  discover- 
able. Types  of  organic  life,  before  unknown,  arrest  our  atten- 
tion, and  prepare  us  for  still  more  surprising  forms.  Descend- 
ing to  the  system  next  in  order  —  the  oolitic  —  with  its  many 
subdivisions,  and  its  tliickness  of  about  half  a  mile,  we  recog- 
nise new  proofs  of  the  dateless  antiquity  of  the  earth.  For, 
enormous  as  this  bed  is,  it  was  obviously  formed  by  deposition 
from  sea  and  river  water.  And  so  gradual  and  tranquil  was 
the  operation,  that,  in  some  places,  the  organic  remains  of  the 
successive  strata  are  arranged  with  a  shelf-like  regularity,  re- 
minding us  of  the  well-ordered  cabinet  of  the  naturalist.  Here, 
too,  the  last  trace  of  animal  species  still  living,  has  vanished. 
Even  this  link  is  gone.  We  have  reached  a  point  when  the 
earth  was  in  the  possession  of  the  gigantic  forms  of  Saurian 
reptiles,  —  monsters  more  appalling  than  the  poet's  fancy  ever 
feigned ;  and  these  are  their  catacombs.  Descending  through 
the  later  red  sandstone  and  saliferous  marls  of  two  thousand 
feet  in  thickness,  and  which  exhibit,  in  'their  very  variegated 
strata,  a  succession  of  numerous  physical  changes,  our  subte» 
ranean  path  brings  us  to  the  carboniferous  system,  or  coal  for- 
mations. These  coal  strata,  many  thousands  of  feet  thick,-, 
consist  entirely  of  the  spoils  of  successive  ancient  vegetable 
worlds.  But  in  the  rank  jungles  and  luxuriant  wildernesses 
wliich  are  here  accumulated  and  compressed,  we  recognise  no 
plant  of  any  existing  species.  Nor  is  there  a  single  convincing 
indication  that  these  primeval  forests  ever  echoed  to  the  voice 
of  birds.  But  between  these  strata,  beds  of  limestone  of  enor- 
mous thickness  are  interposed ;  each  proclaiming  the  prolonged 
existence  and  final  extinction  of  a  creation.  For  these  lime- 
stone beds  are  not  so  much  the  charnel-houses  of  fossil  organ- 
isms, as  the  remains  of  the  organisms  themselves.i 

The  mountain  masses  of  stone  which  now  surround  ug,  ex- 
tending for  miles  in  length  and  breadth,  were  once  sentient 


'  See  a  memoir  "  On  some  of  the  Microscopical  Objects  found  in  the 
Mud  of  the  Levant,  and  other  deposits :  with  Remarks  on  the  Mode  ot 
Formation  of  Calcareous  and  Infusorial  Siliceous  Rocks."    By  W.  C, 

Williamson,  Ks([. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  69 

existences  —  testaceous  and  coralline,  —  living  at  the  bottoin 
of  ancient  seas  and  lakes.  How  countless  the  ages  necessary 
for  their  accumulation ;  when  the  formation  of  only  a  few  inches 
of  the  strata  required  the  life  and  death  of  many  generations. 
Here,  the  mind  is  not  merely  carried  back  through  immeasur- 
able periods,  but,  while  standing  amidst  the  petrified  remains 
of  this  succession  of  primeval  forests  and  extinct  races  of  ani- 
mals piled  up  into  sepulchral  mountains,  we  seem  to  be  encom- 
passed by  the  thickest  shadow  of  the  valley  of  death. 

On  quitting  these  stupendous  monuments  of  death,  we  leave 
behind  us  the  last  vestige  of  land-jDlants,  and  pass  down  to  the 
old  red  sandstone.  Here,  too,  we  have  passed  below  the  last 
trace  of  reptile  life.  The  speaking  foot-prints  impressed  on 
the  carboniferous  strata,  are  absent  here.  The  geological  char- 
acter of  this  vast  formation,  again,  tells  of  ages  innumerable. 
For,  though  many  a  thousand  feet  in  depth,  it  is  obviously 
derived  from  tlie  materials  of  more  ancient  rocks,  fractured, 
decomposed,  and  slowly  deposited  in  water.  The  gradual  and' 
quiet  nature  of  the  process,  and  therefore  its  immense  dura- 
tion, are  evident  from  the  numerous  "  platforms  of  death,"  i 
which  mark  its  formation,  each  crowded  with  organic  struct- 
ures which  lived  and  died  where  they  now  are  seen;  and 
which,  consequently,  must  have  perished  by  some  destructive 
agency,  too  sudden  to  allow  of  their  dispersion,  and  yet  so 
subtle  and  quiet  as  to  leave  the  place  of  their  habitation  un- 
disturbed. 

Immeasurably  far  behind  us  as  we  have  already  left  the 
fair  face  of  the  extant  creation,  while  travelling  into  the  night 
of  ancient  time,  w^e  yet  feel,  as  we  stand  on  the  threshold  of 
the  next,  or  Silurian,  system,  and  look  down  towards  '*  the 
foundations  of  the  earth,"  that  we  are  not  half  way  on  our 
course.  Here,  on  surveying  the  fossil  structures,  we  are  first 
struck  with  the  total  change  in  the  petrified  inhabitants  of  the 
sea,  as  compared  with  what  we  found  in  the  mountain  lime- 
stone ;  implying  the  lapse  of  long  periods  of  time,  during  the 
formation  of  the  intervening  old  red  sandstone  which  we  have 
just  left.  But  still  rfiore  are  we  impressed  with  the  lapse  of 
duration,  while  descending  the  long  succession  of  strata,  of 
which  this  primary  fossiliferous  formation  is  composed,  when 
we  think  of  their  slow  derivation  from  the  more  ancient  rocks  ; 

^  Mr.  Hugh  Miller's  "  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  (1841,)  p.  234;  a  work  of 
peculiar  interest. 


73  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

of  their  oft  repeated  elevation  and  depression;  of  the  long 
periods  of  repose,  during  which  hundreds  of  animal  species  ran 
through  their  cycle  of  generations,  and  became  extinct ;  and 
of  the  continuance  of  this  stratifying  process,  until  these  thin 
beds  had  acquired,  by  union,  the  immense  thickness  of  a  mile 
and  a  half.  Next  below  this,  we  reach  the  Cambrian  system, 
of  almost  equal  thickness,  and  formed  by  the  same  slow  process. 
Here  the  gradual  decrease  of  animal  remains  admonishes  us 
that  even  the  vast  and  dreary  empire  of  death  has  its  limits, 
and  that  we  are  now  in  its  outskirts.  But  there  is  a  solitude 
greater  than  that  of  the  boundless  desert,  and  a  dreariness 
more  impressive  than  that  which  reigns  in  a  world  entombed. 
On  leaving  the  slate-rocks  of  the  Cambrian  and  Cumbrian 
formations,  we  find  that  the  worlds  of  organic  remains  are  past, 
and  that  we  have  reached  a  region  older  than  death,  because 
-jlder  than  life  itself.  Here,  at  leastj  if  life  ever  existed, 
all  trace  of  it  is  obliterated  by  the  fusing  power  of  the  heat 
below.  But  we  have  not  even  yet  reached  a  resting-place. 
Passing  down  through  the  beds  of  mica  schist,  many  thou- 
sand feet  in  depth,  to  the  great  gneiss  formation,  we  find 
that  we  have  reached  the  limits  of  stratification  itself.  The 
granitic  masses  below,  of  a  depth  which  man  can  never  ex- 
plore, are  not  only  crystallized  themselves,  but  the  igneous 
power  acting  through  them,  has  partially  crystallized  the 
rocks  above.  Not  only  life,  but  the  conditions  of  life,  are 
here  at  an  end. 

Now,  is  it  possible  for  us  to  look  from  our  ideal  position, 
backwards  and  upwards  to  the  ten  miles  height  —  supposing 
the  strata  to  be  piled  regularly  —  from  which  we  have  descend- 
ed, without  feeling  that  we  have  reached  a  point  of  immeasur- 
able remoteness  in  terrestrial  antiquity  ?  Can  we  think  of  the 
thin  soil  of  man's  few  thousand  years,  in  contrast  with  the  suc- 
cession of  worlds  we  have  passed  through ;  of  the  slow  form  a 
tion  of  each  of  these  worlds  on  worlds,  by  the  disintegration 
of  more  ancient  materials  and  their  subsidence  in  water ;  of 
the  leaf-like  thinness  of  a  great  proportion  of  the  strata;  of 
the  consequent  flow  of  time  necessary  to^tbrm  only  a  few  per- 
pendicular inches  of  all  these  miles ;  or  of  the  long  periods 
of  alternate  elevation  and  depression,  action  and  repose,  which 
mark  their  formation,  without  acknowledging  that  the  days 
and  years  of  geology  are  ages  and  cycles  of  ages !  Let  us 
conceive,  if  we  can,  that  the  atoms  of  one  of  these  strata  have 
formed  the  sands  of  an  hour-glass,  and  that  each  graui  count- 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  71 

ed  a  moment,  and  we  may  then-  make  some  aj^proximation  to 
the  past  periods  of  geology ;  periods  in  the  computation  of 
vvliicli  the  longest  human  dynasty,  and  even  the  date  of  the 
pyramids,  would  form  only  an  insignificant  fraction.     Or,  re- 
membering that  only  two  or  three  species  of  animals  have, 
so  far  as  we  know,  died  out  during  the  sixty  or  seventy  cen- 
turies of  man's  historic  existence  upon  earth,  can  we  think  of 
the    thousands,  *  not  of  generations,  but  of  species,   of  races, 
which  we  have  passed  in  our  downward  track,  and  which  have 
all  run  through  their  ages  of  existence  and  ceased ;  of  the  re- 
currence  of  this  change  again  and  again,  even  in  the  same 
strata ;  and  of  the  many  times  over  these  strata  must  be  re- 
peated in  order  to  equal  the  vast  sum  of  the  entire  series, 
without  feeling  that  we  are  standing,  in  idea,  on  ground  so  im- 
measurably far  back  in  the  night  of  time,  as  to  fill  the  mind  with 
awe  ?   "  How  dreadful  is  this  place  !"    Here,  at  as  incalculable 
a  secular  distance,  probably,  from  the  first  creation  of  organic 
life,  as   that  is   from  the   last  creation  —  here,  silence  once 
reigned :  the  only  sound  which  occasionally  broke  the  intense 
stillness  being  the  voice  of  subterranean  thunder ;  the  only 
motion  (not  felt*  for  there  was  none  to  feel  it)  an  earthquake  ; 
the  only  phenomenon,  a  molten  sea,  shot  up  from  the  fiery 
gulph  below,  to  form  the  mighty  framework  of  some  future 
continent.     And  still  that  ancient  silence  seems  to  impose  its 
quelling  influence,  and  to  allow  in  its  presence  the  activity  of 
nothing  but   thought.     And   that   thought  —  what   direction 
more  natural  for  it  to  take  than  to  plunge  still  farther  back  into 
the  dark  abyss  of  departed  time,  till  it  has  reached  a  First,  or 
Efficient  Cause  ? 

3.  The  earth  not  eternal.  —  But,  although  we  seem  to  be 
thus  conducted  almost  into  the  frontiers  of  eternity,  the  moment 
we  glance  our  eye  in  that  direction,  all  the  cycles  of  geology 
dwindle  to  a  point.  In  the  presence  of  Him,  with  whom  a 
thousand  years  are  as  one  day,  we  recover  ourselves  to  per- 
ceive that  these  cycles  are  immense  only  in  relation  to  our- 
selves. Accordingly,  every  step  of  our  downward  path  has 
been  suggestive  of  a  beginning ;  for  everything  speaks  of  deri- 
vation. Each  rock,  for  example,  points  downwards  to  its 
source.  We  can  trace  the  lineal  extraction  of  each  successive 
stratum.  And  even  noAv,  having  reached  the  crypt  of  nature, 
and  standing  at  the  bases  of  her  gneissic  columns,  should  the 
question  be  asked,  —  "Whence  their  derivation?"  geology 
points  to  the  older  granitic  masses,  of  whose  waler-worn  crys- 


72  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

talline  particles  they  are  evidently  composed.  "  But  whence 
that  granite  ?"  Mineralogy  shows  that  it  is  composed  of  three 
very  distinct  mineral  substances.  Crystallography  demonstrates, 
next,  by  cleavage,  or  mechanical  division,  that  each  of  these 
three  substances  is  compounded  of  atoms  or  molecules  inex- 
pressibly minute,  and  each  of  these  again  of  others  still  more 
minute,  and  so  on  to  an  indefinite  extent ;  yet  that  each  of 
these  possesses  a  determinate  geometrical  figure,  and  combines 
in  fixed  and  definite  proportions.  Chemical  analysis  now  takes 
up  the  process  of  reduction,  and  shows  —  taking  the  carbonate 
of  lime,  for  example  —  that  each  of  these  integrant  molecules 
is  divisible  into  two  compound  substances.  And,  still  farther, 
it  shows  that  even  each  of  these  is  a  compound  body.  But 
here  the  process  of  decomposition  ends.  The  elementary 
molecules  thus  obtained  —  of  calcium,  carbon,  and  oxygen,  — 
are  three  of  the  fifty-four  or  fifty-five  substances  which,  to  us, 
are  indivisible  and  ultimate ;  and  which,  as  it  has  been  beauti- 
fully expressed  by  Daubeny,  deserve  to  be  regarded  as  the 
alphabet,  composing  the  great  volume  which  records  the 
wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Creator.! 

The  ancient  atheistic  theory  of  b.  fortuitPas  concourse  of 
atoms  is  thus  exploded ;  since  it  is  demonstrable,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  all  crystalline  mineral  substances  exist  only  under 
fixed  geometrical  forms,  and  unite  only  in  unchangeably  definite 
proportions.  Fortuity  has  no  existence  here.  We  are  in  the 
region  of  law ;  and  law  implies  a  lawgiver. 

Here,  too,  the  sceptical  theory  which  would  substitute  an 
eternal  nature  for  an  eternal  God  of  nature,  stands  exposed 
and  condemned.  To  say  nothing  of  the  logical  absurdity 
which  the  theory  involves,  in  professing  to  account  for  the  ex- 
istence of  a  vast  magazine  of  exquisite  contrivances  without 
a  contriver ;  we  have  only  to  recall  the  fact,  that  in  our  subter- 
ranean descent  we  passed  the  actual  beginning  of  species  after 
species,  down  to  a  state  of  the  globe  in  which  life  was  impossi- 
ble. Thus  Nature  herself,  disclaiming  the  honor  thrust  upon 
her  at  the  expense  of  her  Maker,  emphatically  declares,  "  It 
is  not  in  me."  The  compounded  state  of  the  inorganic  masses, 
down  to  the  crystalline  granite,  joins  also  in  affirming  the  same 
truth ;  and  it  is  with  the  argument  from  inorganic  matter  that 
we  have,  at  present,  to  do.  Now,  it  cannot  be  affirmed  that 
matter  has  always  existed  in  a  compounded  state  ;  for,  unless 

1  Sec  Dr.  Bucklantrrf  Bridgewater  Treatise,  vol.  i.,  c.  xxiii. 


INORGANIC    NATUIlll,  73 

it  could  be  proved  that  its  compound  is  its  necessary  state,  it 
would  follow  that,  at  some  period  or  other  in  past  duration,  it 
must  have  been  in  a  simple  state.  But  chemical  analysis  de- 
Qonstrates  that  a  compounded  state  is  not  a  necessary  condition 
)f  its  existence ;  for  it  can  be  analyzed  and  exhibited  in  its 
elements.  From  which  it  follows,  either  that  there  was  a 
period  when  matter  existed  in  its  uncompounded  simple  ele- 
ments —  and  then  the  questions  arise,  whence  the  existence  of 
these  mysterious  substances  ?  and  whence  the  multiplied  laws 
by  which  they  began  to  combine  in  so  varied,  definite,  and 
complex  a  manner,  that,  to  bring  one  of  them  to  light,  immor- 
talizes the  discoverer  for  his  sagacity  and  wisdom  ?  or  else, 
that  matter  has  never  existed  otherwise  than  in  a  compounded 
state,  and  has  thus  always  confessed  itself  a  made,  originated 
thing. 

Indeed,  the  non-eternity  of  the  planetary  system,  or  the  fact 
that  the  present  order  of  things  had  a  commencement,  might 
be  argued  from  the  admitted  existence  of  a  resisting  medium 
in  space.  The  argument  is  mathematical,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  the  continuous  summation  of  infinitely  small  quantities.  For, 
only  admit  that  planetary  motion  encounters  resistance ;  and 
though  it  be  so  small  as  to  be  inappreciable  within  a  thousand 
millions  of  years,  still,  if  it  had  been  from  eternity,  the  motion 
resisted  must  have  come  to  an  end.  Now,  the  motion  of  Encke'a 
comet,  as  well  as  that  of  the  comet  discovered  by  M.  Biela 
renders  the  existence  of  such  a  medium  almost  certain.  True, 
its  effect  even  on  the  wisp-like  vapor  of  a  comet  may  be  so 
small  as  to  require  between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  years 
to  reduce  the  cometary  motion  to  one-half  its  present  value. 
To  reduce  the  present  velocity  of  Jupiter  by  one-half  might 
require  a  period  of  four  hundred  and  ninety  millions  of  years. 
Still,  as  that  reduction  has  not  taken  place,  the  planet  cannot 
have  existed  from  eternity.  Its  motion  must  have  had  a  be- 
ginning. The  chronometer  of  the  heavens  must  have  been 
wound  up  within  a  limited  time,  for  it  has  not  yet  run  down. 

The  object  of  the  nebular  hypothesis  of  Laplace  —  which 
supposes  the  earth,  and  the  system  to  which  it  belongs,  to  have 
arisen  from  the  gradual  condensation  of  a  diffused,  vaporous, 
nebula  —  professes  to  take  us  back  to  a  beginning,  but  only  a 
beginning  of  existing  motions.  Its  immediate  design  was  merely 
to  suggest  analogically  the  possible  origin  of  the  motions  of  the 
solar  system.  It  says  nothing  whatever  —  it  can  say  nothing 
--«^n  disproof  of  the  Divine  origination  of  matter.  It  may 
''  '     "'    "  7  -     ' ' 


74  PRE-ADAMTTE    EARTH. 

trace  back  tlie  mass  to  an  anterior  state,  which  "  was  itself 
preceded  by  other  states,  in  which  the  nebulous  matter  was 
more  and  more  diffuse.  And  in  this  manner  we  arrive,"  says 
Laplace,  "  at  a  nebulosity  so  diffuse,  that  its  existence  could 
scarcely  be  suspected.  Such  is,  in  fact,  the  first  state  of  the 
nebulae,  which  Herschel  carefully  observed  by  means  of  his 
powerful  telescopes."  Superior  telescopic  power,  indeed,  has 
recently  thrown  discredit  on  the  hypothesis,  by  resolving  many 
of  the  supposed  nebulae  into  clusters  of  stars ;  a  fact  suggest- 
ing the  probability  tnat  a  still  superior  telescopic  power  would 
resolve  other  nebulous  appearances  and  bring  new  ones  to 
light ;  and  so  on  without  end.  So  on  at  least,  until  we  possess 
that  which  we  have  not  at  present,  nor  are  likely  to  obtain,  a 
telescope  —  an  instrument  for  viewing  the  end  or  limit. 

But  even  allowing  the  hypothesis  to  become  a  demonstra- 
tion, it  has  only  removed  the  origination  of  matter  to  an  epoch 
farther  back  in  past  duration.  Having  professedly  conducted 
us  back  to  its  earliest  nebulous  condition,  the  hypothesis  leaves 
us.  This  is  the  ultimatum  of  physical  science.  Respecting 
the  anterior,  the  primitive,  state  of  matter,  we  are  still  left  in 
ignorance.  Transferring  our  inquiries  into  those  depths  of 
past  time  to  which  the  hypothesis  would  conduct  us,  we  still 
have  to  inquire,  whence  came  that  nebula  ?  Why  is  it  where 
it  is  ?  Whence  the  cause  of  its  condensation,  separation,  col- 
location, and  motions  ?  —  processes  which,  under  the  circum- 
stances, no  laws  we  are  acquainted  with  are  sufficient  to  ex- 
plam.  Having  traced  the  history  of  the  earth  back  through 
numerous  changes  to  its  supposed  nebulous  state,  we  ask,  with 
the  confidence  that  we  are  so  much  the  nearer  to  the  beginning, 
what  was  the  primary  change  —  the  fii'st  effect  ?  The  very 
fact,  that  our  examination  has  disclosed  to  us  the  proximate 
beginnings  of  previous  states  of  the  earth,  suggests  the  idea  of 
a  primary  beginnin'g,  and  prepares  us^  to  hear  of  it. 

We  do  not  expect,  be  it  remarked,  that  science  will  ever  le 
able  to  conduct  us  knowingly  to  such  a  commencement.!  Even 
if  permitted  to  gaze  on  the  primordial  elements  of  things,  science 
could  not  of  itself  be  certain  of  the  fact.  If,  while  the  astron- 
omer was  searching  the  depths  of  space  with  his  instruments, 
a  nebulous  body  were  to  be  strictly  originated  under  his  gaze, 
his  science  could  not  assure  him  that  the  body  has  come  wan- 

'  See  Dr.  Whewell's  excellent  Treatise  qu  the  Judications  of  the  Crea- 
tor, pp.  150—  171. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  75 

dering  thither  from  some  distant  quarter,  where  it  had  existed 
under  other  conditions.  The  fact  that  it  must  sometime  have 
had  a  beginning,  might  be  instinctively  felt  by  liim  as  a  truth 
of  reason ;  but,  in  the  nature  of  things,  the  fact  could  be  made 
known  to  him  only  as  an  authoritative  announcement,  and  that 
announcement  could  come  to  him  only  from  another  and  a 
iiigher.  source  —  from  the  Divine  Originator  himself  All  that 
\YQ  look  for  at  the  hands  of  science  is,  to  admit  the  analogical 
evidence  which  the  natural  history  of  the  earth  affords  of  a 
true  and  real  beginning ;  and  to  satisfy  the  intellectual  neces- 
sitj^,  the  imperative  requirements,  of  reason,  by  admitting  that 
such  a  commencement  there  must  have  been  preparatory  to 
the  due  reception  of  the  sublime  and  inspired  affirmation.  In 
the  beginning,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 

^  4.  From  a  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  my  full  con- 
viction is,  that  the  verse  just  quoted  was  placed  by  the  hand 
of  Inspiration  at  the  queuing  of  the  Bible  as  a  distinct  and  in- 
dependent sentence ;  that  it  was  the  Divine  intention  to  affirm 
by  it,  that  the  material  universe  was  primarily  originated  by 
God  from  elements  not  previously  existing ;  and  that  this  ori- 
ginating act  was  quite  distinct  from  the  acts  included  in  the 
six  natural  days  of  the  Adamic  creation.! 

5.  Before  leaving  this  part  of  the  subject,  it  may  be  proper 
to  notice  two  objections  to  the  great  antiquity  of  the  earth, 
although  they  are  not  of  a  directly  Biblical  nature.  The  first 
relates  to  ih.^  geological  evidence  of  that  antiquity,  and  may 
be  expressed  thus :  Why  might  not  God  have  created  the 
crust  of  the  earth  just  as  it  is,  with  all  its  numberless  stratifi- 
cations and  diversified  formations,  complete  ?  And  the  anal- 
ogy for  such  an  exercise  of  creative  power  is  supposed  to 
be  found  in  the  creation  of  Adam,  not  as  an  infant,  but  an 
adult ;  and  in  the  production  of  the  full-sized  trees  of  Eden. 
To  which  the  reply  is  direct :  the  maturity  of  the  first  man,  and 
of  the  objects  around  him,  could  not  deceive  him  by  implying 
that  they  had  slowly  grown  to  that  state.  His  first  knowledge 
was  the  knowledge  of  the  contrary.  He  lived,  partly,  in  order 
to  proclaim  the  fact  of  his  creation.  And,  could  his  own  body, 
or  any  of  the  objects  created  at  the  same  time,  have  been  sub  • 
jected  to  a  physiological  examination,  they  would  no  doubt 
iuive  been  found  to  indicate  their  miraculous  production  in 
their  very  destitution  of  all  the  traces   of  an  early  growth ; 


*  Scu  Nolo  B 


76  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EAKTH. 

whereas  the  shell  of  the  earth  is  a  crowded  storehouse  of  evi- 
dence of  its  gradual  formation.  So  that  the  question,  express- 
ed in  other  language,  amounts  to  this :  Might  not  the  God  of 
infinite  truth  have  enclosed  in  the  earth,  at  its  creation,  evi- 
dence of  its  having  existed  ages  before  its  actual  production  ? 
Of  course,  the  Objector  would  disavow  such  a  sentiment.  But 
such  appears  to  be  the  real  import  of  the  objection ;  and,  as 
such,  it  involves  its  own  refutation. 

6.  The  second  relates  to  the  long  period  during  which  the 
earth  was,  according  to  geological  disclosures,  comparatively 
unoccupied,  and  amounts  to  this :  Is  it  likely  that  so  long  a 
period  would  have  been  allowed  by  the  Almighty  to  elapse, 
after  the  creation  of  the  earth,  before  the  production  of  the  hu- 
man race  ?  Now,  if  this  be  said  from  a  regard  to  the  relative 
importance  of  man,  as  if  all  created  time  were  lost  till  he  ap- 
peared, it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  that  he  has  still  an  eternity 
before  him ;  and  that  had  he  been  cJi^ted  a  myriad  of  ages 
earlier  than  he  was,  there  would  yet  have  been  an  eternity 
behind  him.  If  it  be  said,  in  the  spirit  of  homage  to  the  Cre- 
ator, it  should  be  remembered  that  to  Him  "  who  inhabiteth 
eternity,"  there  can  be  neither  early  nor  late  ;  that  to  Him  "  a 
thousand  years  are  as  one  day,  and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years." 
Besides  which,  the  pre- Adamite  antiquity  of  the  earth  is  not, 
as  the  objection  seems  to  imply,  useless  to  man.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  is  indebted  to  the  processes  which  were  then  taking 
place,  for  all  the  principal  means  of  his  material  civilization. 
And,  then,  as  a  creature  in  whose  mind  ideas  succeed  each 
other,  how  eminently  calculated  is  the  mere  attempt  of  open- 
ing his  imagination  to  let  a  procession  of  ten  thousand  ages 
pass  through,  or  of  the  events  of  such  a  period,  to  subserve 
his  highest  interests,  by  elevating  his  conceptions  of  the  Being 
who  has  superintended  the  whole.  Other  beneficial  results 
might  easily  be  specified.  And  unless  the  objector  knew  all 
the  ends  which  were  answered  by  the  long  periods  of  the 
earth's  existence,  prior  to  the  Creation  of  man ;  and  all  which 
will  be  derived  from  it  in  the  eternity  to  come,  he  is  not  in  a 
situation  to  pronounce  on  the  subject.  For  aught  he  knows,  a 
disclosure  of  all  those  ends  would  convert  his  present  scepti- 
cism respecting  the  antiquity  of  the  earth,  into  a  feeling  of 
wonder  that  the  periods  of  geology  had  not  been  of  longer  du- 
ration than  they  were. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  77 

I. 

Tlie  First  Effect — Assuming,  on  the  grounds  stated,  then, 
the  great  antiquity  of  the  earth,  let  us  go  back  in  thought  to 
that  "  beginning "  when  God  created  the  material  universe. 
Up  to  the  'moment  of  its  origination  there  had  been  only  one 
substance ;  for  "  God  is  a  Spirit."  Not  more  amazing,  there- 
fore, as  a  display  of  power,  would  the  origination  of  a  third 
substance  now  be,  differing  from  the  two  already  existing  as 
much  as  these  two  differ  from  each  other,  than  was  the  origina- 
tion of  matter  as  the  opening  act  of  the  visible  creation.  Here, 
according  to  our  first  law,  was  an  effect  of  which  the  supreme 
and  ultimate  reason  must  he  in  the  Divine  Nature. 

1.  It  is  by  no  means  important  for  us  to  inquire,  whether 
or  not  the  Being  who  spake  this  immensity  of  matter  into  ex- 
istence and  activity,  separated  it  from  the  first  into  masses,  and 
distributed  those  masses  into  the  places  and  proportions  and 
harmonious  relations  which  prevail  at  present ;  or,  whether  he 
merely  produced  a  vast  central  and  aggregate  chaos,  as  the 
material  from  which  stars  and  systems  should  subsequently 
issue,  by  a  series  of  distinct  creative  acts.  If  it  should  appear 
that  the  first  was  the  fact,  it  might  indeed  be  considered  that 
the  collocation  and  adjustment  of  the  celestial  mechanism,  by 
furnishing  a  grand  display  of  the  knowledge  of  God,  impeached 
our  general  proposition  that  the  primary  act  of  creation  was 
chiefly  a  manifestation  of  power.  But  to  this  it  would  be  suf- 
ficient to  reply,  that  the  knowledge  which  such  a  distribution 
of  matter  would  have  displayed  from  the  first,  would  only  show 
that  the  power  was  intelligent  and  not  a  blind  fate  ;  that  it  was 
a  knowledge  distinct  from  i\\e  wisdom  displayed  in  the  second 
or  organic  stage  of  creation  ;  ^  that  itr  would  not  the  less,  but 
the  more,  illustrate  the  power  which  effected  it  —  "  knowl- 
edge," in  this  instance,  would  be  "  power ; "  that  we  do  not 
claim  for  the  first  stage  of  the  manifestation  a  display  of  power 
exclusively,  since  every  act  of  an  infinitely  perfect  Being  must 
virtually  include  the  efi'ect  of  every  attribute  of  which  that  per- 
fection  consists ;  that  such  a  virtual  inclusion  of  wisdom  and 
goodness  in  power,  as  well  as  of  power  in  wisdom  and  goodness, 
is  essential  to  that  continuity  of  divine  manifestation  which  it 
is  our  aim  to  illustrate ;  but  that  we  claim  for  it  the  exhibition 
of  power  principally  and  supremely ;  and  that  God  himself  'mi 

'  See  Note  C. 
7* 


78  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

often  fo  -ind  to  appeal  to  the  work  of  creation  as  his  own  chosen 
proof  of  power. 

2.  According  to  the  nebular  hypothesis,  however,  such  a 
distribution  of  matter  was  not  simultaneous  with  its  origina- 
tion. Now,  whatever  may  be  the  merits  of  this  Hypothesis  in 
relation  to  the  whole  universe  of  matter,  it  is  certain  that  tlie 
shape  of  our  own  planet — that  of  an  oblate  spheroid,  or  a 
sphere  flattened  at  the  poles  —  is  precisely  that  which  a  fluid 
body  would  assume  by  rotation  about  an  axis.  And,  on  exam- 
ining the  constitution  of  the  primary  rocks,  it  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  found  to  be  the  result  of  a  state  of  fusion.  They  are  all 
crystallized ;  and  many  of  the  series  above  them  are  found  to 
be  almost  as  crystalline  in  their  texture. 

3.  Now,  let  us  suppose  that  we  had  been  admitted,  not  only 
to  contemplate  the  first  act  of  the  Divine  manifestation,  but  to 
study  that  display  in  the  whole  of  this  first  stage,  distinguished 
as  it  must  have  been  by  elemental  conflicts  and  volcanic  ex- 
plosions beyond  all  human  conception,  in  what  other  light  could 
we  have  regarded  the  phenomena  than  as  signs  or  expressions 
of  unknown  power  ?  We  are  not  now  to  speak  of  the  extent 
of  the  power  to  be  inferred  from  the  supposed  scene  —  whether 
it  be  limited  or  unlimited.  This  view  belongs  to  a  subsequent 
part  of  the  subject.  At  present  we  have  to  do  only  with  the 
origination  of  matter  and  its  planetary  formation,  as  an  expres- 
sion of  power.  Every  property,  indeed,  which  was  now  brought 
to  light,  and  every  idea  which  can  be  supposed  to  have  been 
truly  suggested  and  represented,  expressed  a  spiritual  corres- 
pondence in  the  Divine  Creator.  Thus,  the  bare  existence  of 
the  dependent  substance,  matter,  pre-supposed  the  existence 
of  the  Independent  and  Infinite  Substance.  The  laws  which 
the  planetary  motions  exhibited  were  His  laws  ;  and  proclaim- 
ed him  to  be  "  the  God  of  order."  For,  no  being  can  impart 
that  which  he  does  not,  in  some  sense,  possess.  But  even  the 
origination  of  the  substance,  and  the  prescription  and  main- 
tenance of  the  laws,  were  preeminently  demonstrations  of 
power.  Here  was  the  first  objective  effect  —  the  origination 
of  matter ;  irresistibly  awakening  the  conviction  of  the  First 
Cause :  the  solemn  utterance  of  the  Deity  on  the  subject  of 
causation.  Here  was  the  universe  of  matter  in  motion,  awa- 
kening the  idea  of  force  ;  it  was  the  great  practical  lesson  of  the 
Deity  on  dynamics  —  the  doctrine  of  force  producing  motion. 
Every  property  of  matter,  every  process  by  which  its  proper- 
ties were  developed,  every  law  which  regulated  these   pro- 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  79 

cesses,  every  elementary  particle  and  every  revolving  planet, 
was  lecturing  on  the  power  which  imparted  that  force.  Nor 
could  we  have  looked  on  the  geological,  planetary,  and  astral 
motions  —  the  systems  of  motion  —  the  complicated  and  bound- 
less whirl  of  motion,  in  its  multitude,  variety,  velocity  and 
extent,  and  have  referred  the  whole  to  its  origin  and  support, 
without  feeling  the  deep  emphasis  of  the  declaration,  "  Power 
belongeth  unto  God." 

n. 

The  past  hrought  forward. —  One  of  our  principles  requires 
that  the  laws  and  results  of  the  past  be  carried  forwards ;  and 
that  all  that  is  characteristic  in  the  lower  steps  of  the  process 
be  carried  up  into  the  higher  as  far  as  it  may  subserve  the 
ultimate  end ;  or  unless  it  be  superseded  by  something  analo- 
gous and  superior  in  the  higher  and  the  future.  (As  we  are 
only,  at  present,  in  the  first  stage  of  creation,  it  is  obvious  that 
our  means  of  illustrating  this  law  can  be  derived  from  nothing 
antecedent ;  but  are  restricted  to  the  earlier  operations  of  this 
:  pining  stage,  as  related  to  its  later  periods.) 

Thus  the  law  o^  attraction  had  collected  matter  around  a 
centre.  But  it  knows  nothing  of  selection  ;  holding  the  most 
heterogeneous  masses  together  by  the  one  common  bond  of 
gravitation.  But  having  brought  the  particles  of  which  the 
masses  are  composed  so  near  together,  another  law  —  that  of 
chemical  affinity  —  appears.  Two  of  the  leading  principles  of 
chemical  affinity  are,  that  it  is  elective  —  passing  by  one  par- 
ticle to  coalesce  with  another ;  and  definite  or  constant^  —  each 
element  uniting  only  with  a  certain  fixed  proportion  of  the 
element  elected. 

And,  then,  as  chemical  affinity  is  an  advance  on  attraction, 
crystallization  is  an  advance  on  chemical  affinity ;  and  to  this 
we  are  indebted  for  the  granitic  foundations  of  the  earth,  and 
all  the  ten  thousand  symmetrical  forms  which  matter  assumes. 
The  first  of  these  laws  does  not  more  prepare  the  way  for 
the  second,  than  the  second  for  the  third.  For  "  bodies  never 
crystaUize  but  when  their  elements  combine  chemically ;  and 
solid  bodies  which  combine,  when  they  do  it  most  completely 
and  exactly,  also  rrystallize."  ^    The  matter  which  was  merely 

*  Professor  AYhcwell's   Philosophy  of  the  Inductive   Sciences,  vol.  i 
p.  353. 


80  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

held  together  by  attraction  —  is  sorted  by  chemical  affinity  — 
and,  in  crystallization,  according  to  Berzelius,i  it  assumes  its 
definite  forms  by  a  presupposed  effort  of  the  particles,  not 
simply  to  unite,  but  to  unite  at  certain  points.  But  when  the 
perfect  crystal  is  formed,  be  it  remarked,  no  law  is  repealed. 
It  is  no  less  in  the  all-gi'asping  hand  of  attraction  than  it  was 
at  fii'st. 


m. 

Progression.  —  One  of  our  principles  is,  that  the  production 
of  new  effects,  or  the  introduction  of  new  laws,  will  be  itself  a 
law  of  the  manifestation ;  in  other  words,  that  the  system  will 
be  progressive.  Accordingly,  when  we  reach  the  second  stage 
af  the  process,  we  shall  be  able  to  show  its  advance  as  com- 
pared with  the  first.  But  as  we  are  now  merely  entering  on 
that  first  stage,  we  have  nothing  prior  with  which  to  compare 
it.  We  can  only  regard  inorganic  matter  as  something,  an 
existence ;  and,  as  such,  an  advance  on  nothing,  or  on  non- 
existence. In  this  light,  we  have  simply  to  speak,  first,  of  its 
constitution.  But  if,  then,  taking  our  stand  at  a  jDcriod  to- 
wards the  close  of  tliis  stage,  we  look  back  on  the  succession 
of  changes  which  the  material  system  is  supposed  to  exhibit ; 
we  may  speak  also  oi progression  in  relation  to  these  changes. 

1.  Over  the  physical  constitution  of  every  planet  except  our 
own,  there  hangs  a  deep  obscurity.  We  may  be  able  to  weigh 
them,  and  to  measure  their  volumes ;  but  this  is  nearly  the 
sum  of  our  knowledge  concerning  them.  Here,  however,  we 
find  ourselves  in  contact  with  matter ;  it  courts  and  compels 
our  attention.  To  the  observant  mind  the  earth  is  a  vast 
laboratory,  in  which  the  great  processes  of  chemistry  are  in 
constant  operation.  Accordingly,  the  researches  of  science 
have  brought  to  light  between  fifty  and  sixty  forms  or  modifi- 
cations of  matter.  Each  of  these,  having  hitherto  resisted  all 
endeavors  to  resolve  them  into  any  others,  is  termed  a  simple 
or  undecompounded  body.  It  is  deemed  probable  that  these 
bodies  exist  ultimately  as  atoms  or  indivisible  particles.  And 
easy  as  it  may  be  to  change,  in  any  given  instance,  their  state 
and  appearance,  they  are,  as  far  as  we  know,  indestructible. 

2.  The  properties  of  matter  have  been  divided  into  the 
primaiy  and  secondary.     The  first,  including  extension,  impen- 


*  Essay  on  the  Theory  of  Chemical  Properties,  p.  1 13. 


INORGANIC   NATURE.  81 

etrability,  and  inertia,  are  such  as  belong  to  all  kinds  of  mat- 
ter, and  without  which  we  cannot  conceive  of  its  existence. 
The  second,  are  those  bj  which  one  kind  of  matter  is  distin- 
guished from  another.  To  this  class  belong  light,  heat,  elec- 
tricity, magnetism,  molecular  attraction,  crystallization,  and 
gravitation. 

3.  These  properties  are  developed,  and  operate  according 
to  laws.  Viewed  as  merely  existent,  or  in  relation  to  space, 
matter  presupposes  a  cause ;  viewed  in  its  fixed  relations,  and 
its  uniform  successions,  it  exhibits  laws,  and  therefore  presup- 
poses a  lawgiver  also.  Thus,  the  most  general  law,  with 
wliich  we  are  at  present  acquainted,  in  the  chemistry  of  Na- 
ture, is,  that  all  the  elementary  bodies  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  besides  exhibiting  what  may  be  called  preferences, 
enter  into  combination  with  each  other,  not  arbitrarily,  but 
only  in  fixed  and  definite  proportions,  by  weight.  So  that 
luiving  discovered  a  new  elementary  substance,  and  ascertain- 
ed its  chemical  properties,  we  can  foretel  all  the  proportions  in 
which  it  can  enter  into  combination  with  all  the  others.  Into 
some  of  these  combinations,  it  may  have  never  yet  entered. 
But  our  knowledge  of  the  law  respecting  it  enables  us  to  fore- 
see what  the  Author  of  Nature  has  ordained  that  it  shall  do 
in  such  circumstances.  The  law  governs  our  anticipations. 
"  This  use  of  the  word  law,  has  relation  to  us  as  understand- 
ing, rather  than  to  the  materials  of  which  the  universe  consists 
as  obeying,  certain  rules."  Our  mind  discovers  the  mind  of 
the  Creator  on  the  subject,  even  before  the  thing  created  has 
been  made,  in  the  particular  case,  to  illustrate  His  will.  And 
thus  we  obtain  a  view  of  the  constitution  of  matter  which 
effectually  destroys  the  idea  of  its  eternal  and  self-existent 
nature, "  by  giving  to  each  of  its  atoms  the  essential  characters, 
at  once,  of  a  manufactured  article,  and  a  subordinate  agent J^^ 

4.  The  laws  which  regulate  the  changes  and  combinations 
of  matter  are  brought  to  light  by  those  changes  themselves ; 
such  as  solution,  evaporation,  rarefaction,  decomposition,  and 
combustion.  The  combinations  of  which  the  elementary  sub- 
stances are  susceptible  are  endless.  The  principal  forms,  in- 
deed, in  which  matter  is  found  at  the  surface  of  the  globe,  are, 
the  solid,  the  liquid,  and  the  gaseous.  Into  the  composition  of 
the  solid  earth  there  enter  but  eight  or  ten  of  the  elementary 
substances  in  any  large  quantities.     The  water,  which  covers 

'  Sir  J.  Herachel  on  the  Study  of  Nat.  Phil.,  §§  27,  28. 


82  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

about  tliree-fcurtQS  of  the  earth,  is  made  up  cliiefly  of  two  of 
these  substances.  And  the  atmosphere,  which  envelops  both 
the  earth  and  the  water,  is  composed  principally  of  two  also. 
Indeed,  there  are  grounds  to  beheve  that  all  inorganic  sub- 
stances unite  bj  what  is  called  the  binary  principle  of  combin- 
ation ;  so  that,  however  numerous  the  inorganic  elements  in 
union,  in  any  instance,  may  be,  they  will  be  found  to  exhibit 
a  progressive  combination  of  pairs  of  substances,  si^nple  and 
compound.  But,  we  repeat,  the  combinations  of  which  the 
fifty  or  sixty  elementary  bodies  admit,  are  inconceivable ;  like 
the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  whose  union  in  words  and  senten- 
ces admit  of  a  diversity  which  no  speaking  or  writing  can  ever 
exhaust.  In  the  great  laboratories  of  Nature,  every  descrip- 
tion of  chemical  process  is  doubtless  in  activity,  by  v/hich 
compounds  of  every  kind  are  continually  forming.  By  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  rocky  crust  of  the  globe  is  made  up  of 
the  fragments  and  powder  of  an  incalculable  variety  of  sub- 
stances, mingled  together  in  all  degrees  of  proportion,  and  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  defy  separation.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted 
that  this  round  of  change  has  been  going  on  from  the  begin- 
ning- 

6.  This  brings  us  to  remark,  secondly,  on  ih2ii  progr^ession  in 
the  state  of  the  primitive  earth,  indicated  by  its  mineral  and 
chemical  changes.  If,  for  the  sake  of  illustration,  we  adopt 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  we  shall  admit  that  there  was  a  time 
when  the  original  planetary  material  was  yet  circulating  in 
diffused  and  undetached  masses  around  the  sun.  Then  came 
the  period  when  the  planets,  aggregating  into  separate  bodies, 
occupied  their  respective  orbits,  and  received  their  appropriate 
imjDulses ;  impulses  involving  j^henomena  so  traceable  to  the 
hand  of  the  Creator,  that  Laplace  has  said,  respecting  a  cer- 
tain class  of  them,  "  It  is  infinity  to  unity  that  this  is  not  the 
effect  of  chance."  1 

7.  Or  if,  dispensing  with  the  nebular  hypothesis,  we  sup- 
pose the  planetary  bodies  to  have  existed  in  their  assigned 
orbits  from  the  first,  our  imagination  will  yet  take  us  back  to 
the  dateless  period  when  the  earth  was  passing  from  its  vapor- 
ous form  to  that  of  incipient  consolidation.  The  phenomena 
exhibited  by  certain  comets  —  especially  by  that  of  1744,  and 
by  Halley's  comet,  on  its  last  appearance  in  1835  —  have  been 
supposed  to  justify  the  inference,  that  they  are  passing  through 

'   Syst.,  vol.  ii.  p.  3(56. 


INOT^aANTO    NATTUK.  S-'? 

a  rapid  sncocssioii  oi'  formalivc  processes.  The  sccnlar  cool- 
ing down  of  the  insufferably  high  temperature  of  the  earth 
was  followed  by  the  formation  of  its  shell,  or  the  crystalliza- 
tion of  its  rocks ;  and  this  again  by  their  decomposition  by 
mechanical  and  chemical  means.  Then  came  the  period  when, 
as  the  process  of  consolidation  went  on,  the  volcanic  forces 
began  the  transformation  of  the  older  strata,  and  produced 
new  and  strange  admixtures  —  gneiss,  and  mica  slate,  and 
granular  limestone.  —  Every  repetition  of  the  process  was  fol- 
lowed by  new  combinations  of  old  materials.  The  vast  rifts 
and  chasms  in  the  crust  of  the  earth  closed  up,  or  gave  room 
for  the  elevation  of  mountain  chains.  The  external  signs  of 
volcanic  activity,  if  they  did  not  contract  in  range,  diminished 
in  intensity.  The  central  heat  given  off"  from  the  surface  of 
the  earth  was  greatly  reduced ;  life  became  possible  ;  and  the 
earth  approached  nearer  and  nearer  to  its  present  configura- 
tion. And  thus,  on  each  imaginary  visit  we  make  to  the  an- 
cient earth,  we  find  it  in  progress.  The  activity  we  behold  is 
not  in  reality  chaotic.  Every  change  is  only  the  result  of  a 
new  chemical  combination,  or  the  evolution  of  a  new  law,  or 
the  effect  of  a  force  newly  come  into  operation. 

IV. 

Continuity.  —  According  to  another  of  our  hypothetical  laws, 
it  may  be  expected  that  the  manifestation,  besides  being  pro- 
gressive, will  be  continuous,  or  will  be  progressive  by  being 
continuous,  leaving  no  intervals  of  time,  or  of  degree,  but  such 
as  the  modifying  influence  of  other  laws  may  require  or  account 
for. 

1.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  metaphysical,  as  well  as  mathe- 
matical, universality  which  has  been  ascribed  to  the  law  of 
continuity ;  and  of  the  errors  and  evils  arising  from  such  an 
imqualified  extension  of  its  application.  It  was  first  applied 
I  o  motion.  Galileo  ^  —  referring  the  idea  to  Plato  —  affirmed 
that  a  body  cannot  pass  from  a  state  of  rest  to  a  certain  de- 
gree of  velocity  without  passing  tlu-ough  all  tlie  intermediate 
degrees  of  motion.  Leibnitz  not  only  asserted  the  law  in  a 
more  general  form,'^  but  carried  it  on  from  matter  into  the 
domain  of  mind;  adducing  it  to  demonstrate  that  the  mind 
never  ceases  to  think,  even  in  sk^ep ;  and  that  death,  in  an 


'  Dialog,  iii.  150;  iv.  32.  ^  Opera,  i.  366. 


84  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH, 

absolute  sense,  is  an  impossibility.^  Bonnet,  in  harmony  Avitli 
the  maxim,  Natiuri  non  operatur  per  saltu/u,  deduced  from  the 
law  of  continuity  the  conclusion  —  not  indeed  entirely  unknown 
to  philosophy  before  —  that  creation  must  consist  of  a  scale  of 
being,  graduated  downwards,  without  any  saltus,  or  leap,  from 
the  Creator  to  the  unorganized  atom.  And,  subsequently, 
Helvetius  applied  the  law  to  the  progress  of  human  improve- 
ment.2  Nor  have  writers  since  been  wanting  to  press  it  still 
farther  —  to  the  illustration  of  that  doctrine  of  necessity,  ^bich 
regards  all  the  phenomena  of  human  life  as  concatenated  in  a 
chain  of  iron  mechanism.  And  even  beyond  this,  it  has  been 
made  to  countenance  a  theory  of  development,  according  to 
which,  an  unbroken  chain  of  gradually  advanced  organization 
has  been  evolved,  from  the  crystal  to  the  globule,  and  thence, 
through  the  successive  stages  of  the  polypus,  the  mollux,  the 
insect,  the  fish,  the  reptile,  the  bird,  and  the  beast,  up  to  the 
monkey  and  the  man.3 

2.  But  while,  on  the  one  hand,  we  avoid  being  led  away  by 
a  dazzling  generality,  or  being  offended  by  a  wild  speculation, 
reckless  alike  of  inductive  facts  and  of  moral  consequences,  let 
us  not,  on  the  other,  reject  a  principle  which,  when  viewed  in 
subservient  relation  to  other  principles,  may  prove  to  exist, 
and  to  have  a  place  in  the  reality  of  things.  Such  a  view  I 
have  expressed  generally  in  the  announcement  at  the  head  of 
this  section.  The  actual  modifications  to  which  I  believe  it  to 
be  subjected  will  become  apparent  as  we  advance,  from  stage 
to  stage,  in  our  examination  of  its  history.  For  the  present, 
we  have  only  to  do  with  its  application  to  unorganized  matter. 

3.  What  was  the  primordial  constitution  or  condition  of  the 
material  universe  ?  That  it  existed,  at  first,  in  a  gaseous,  dif- 
fused, and  nebulous  state,  is  only  an  hypothesis ;  and  an  hypo- 
thesis, as  has  been  remarked  already,  employed  by  Laplace, 
chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  accounting  for  the  motions  of  the 
solar  system.  And  the  fact  that  the  space-penetrating  power 
of  Lord  Rosse's  telescope  has  resolved  many  of  the  supposed 
nebula  into  starry  systems,  requires  us  to  keep  the  hypothesis 
still  at  a  wide  distance  from  the  realities  of  science.  Indeed, 
it  awakens  the  conviction  that,  in  the  present  life,  we  can 
never  arrive  at  certainty  respecting  the  nebulous  formation  of 
systems;  for  were  our  telescopic  power  to  be  multiplied  a 

*  lb.  11.  51.  2  De  I'Esprit,  dis.  iv.  c.  i. 

^  Among  such  speculators  may  be  named  the  author  of  the  "  Vestiges 
of  the  Natural  History  of  Creation." 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  83 

thousand-fold,  so  that  we  could  resolve  all  the  nebulae  within 
the  extended  range  of  our  present  observation,  we  could  not 
be  sure  that  nebulous  bodies  did  not  exist  beyond ;  and  were 
our  power  of  observation  to  be  then  doubled,  we  should  pro- 
bably still  behold  in  the  horizon  of  space  other  nebulous  ap- 
pearances— realms  of  apparent  star-dust  —  defying  our  utmost 
powers  of  resolution.  All  that  we  can  hope  for  is  an  approx- 
imation to  the  truth. 

Now  such  an  approximation,  however  far  it  may  be  from 
the  actual  attainment  of  the  truth,  does  appear  to  be  made  by 
the  nebular  hypothesis.  It  harmonize*  with  what  appears  to 
be  the  formative  processes,  going  on  at  present  in  certain  com- 
etary  bodies.  It  hypothetically  accounts  for  the  motions  of  the 
planetary  bodies,  as  masses  thrown  off  from  the  central  body. 
It  agrees  with  the  geometrical  form  of  the  earth ;  its  oblate- 
ness  seeming  to  reveal  the  pristine  fluidity  of  the  body ;  for 
such  is  the  figure  which  it  would  assume  as  the  consequence 
of  a  centrifugal  force  operating  on  a  soft  rotating  mass.  So 
that  "  its  figure  is  its  history ;"  for  it  indicates  the  mode  of  its 
origin  as  formed,  under  the  conditions  supposed,  by  gradual 
condensation.  And  "  surely  the  vision  of  these  unfathomable 
changes,  of  the  solemn  march  of  these  majestic  heavens  from 
phase  to  phase,  obediently  fulfiUing  their  awful  destiny,  will 
be  lost  on  the  heart  of  the  adorer,  unless  it  swells  with  that 
humility  which  is  the  best  homage  to  the  Supreme  !  Between 
us  and  the  Highest  there  is  still  vastness  and  mystery.  To 
take  wing  beyond  tJIrestrial  precincts,  perhaps,  is  not  wholly 
forbidden,  provided  we  go  with  unsandaled  feet,  as  if  on  hqlj 
ground.  An  order  hanging  tremblingly  over  nothingness,  and 
of  which  every  constituent  fails  not  to  beseech  incessantly  for 
a  substance  and  substratum,  in  the  idea  of  One  who  liveth 

FOR  EVER  !"  i 

It  has  been  affirmed,  indeed,  that  the  planets  show  "  a  pro- 
gressive diminution  in  density  from  the  one  nearest  the  sun  to 
that  which  is  most  distant ;"  that  the  motions  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem are  "  all  in  one  direction  —  from  west  to  east ;"  and  that 
"  the  distances  of  the  planets  are  curiously  relative."^     But 


Nichol's  Architecture  of  the  Heavens. 
^  Vestiges  of  Creation,  pp.  9,  10.  The  period  of  the  newly-discovered 
planet  Neptune  is  now  ascertained  to  be  166  j'ears,  and  its  mean  distance 
30  terrestrial  radii,  instead  of  38.  So  that  Bode's  empirical  law  of  the 
*'  curiously  relative"  distances  of  the  planets,  has  failed  with  regard  to 
Neptune. 


86  THE    PKE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

such  continuity  iias  no  existence  in  nature.  The  density  of 
the  sun  itself  is  only  about  a  fourth  of  tliat  of  the  earth.  The 
densities  of  Venus,  Earth,  and  Mars,  are  nearly  equal.  While 
the  density  of  Uranus  is  greater  than  that  of  Saturn,  which  is 
nearer  the  sun.  The  jnotion  of  the  satellites  of  Uranus  is 
retrograde  —  from  east  to  west.  And  the  relative  distances  of 
Mercury  and  Venus,  and  of  the  only  satellites  which  admit  of 
comparison,  —  those  of  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and  Uranus,  —  from 
their  primaries,  exhibit  no  such  uniform  disposition  as  the 
statement  implies.  The  collocation  and  motions  of  the  sys- 
tem cannot  be  referred  to  chance,  because  of  its  calculated 
uniformity ;  nor  to  natural  law,  owing  to  its  departures  from 
uniformity. 

4.  The  law  of  continuity,  in  a  modified  form,  has  been  ap- 
plied, not  only  to  the  formation  of  material  systems  by  passing 
from  a  fluid  state  through  all  the  intermediate  stages  to  that 
of  the  separation  and  solidification  of  their  parts,  but  also  to 
the  subsequent  history  of  the  earth  as  one  of  these  parts.  Thus, 
Macculloch  and  others  employed  it  to  show  that  the  rocks 
called  trap  rocks  were  not  of  sedimentary  origin,  but  that,  as 
they  were  found  in  all  the  intermediate  stages  between  the 
igneous  and  that  most  nearly  resembling  the  sedimentary  form, 
they  constitute  a  connecting  link  between  these  two  extremes, 
and  form  a  transition  series.  Lyell  has  employed  this  principle 
of  gradation,  in  opposition  to  the  catastrophists,  who  suppose 
that  the  present  state  of  the  earth  has  been  rapidly  attained 
by  violent  changes  and  paroxysms,  to  slftw  that  all  geological 
phenomena  have  been  produced  slowly,  by  causes  which  are 
still  acting  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  According  to  this 
view,  the  present  condition  of  our  planet  has  been  reached, 
not  by  the  wide  leaps  of  geological  causes,  but  by  their  con- 
tinuous and  gradational  operation. 

5.  The  true  view,  probably,  is  that  which  reconciles  both 
methods ;  and  which  sees  alike  in  the  steady  operation  of  laws 
leading,  in  the  lapse  of  ages,  to  a  geological  catastrophe,  and 
in  the  catastrophe  preparing  the  way  for  the  resumed  and 
steady  operation  of  these  laws,  the  uninterrupted  progress  of 
the  great  design.  Thus  interpreted,  science  joins  with  In- 
spiration in  asking,  "  Hast  thou  not  known,  hast  thou  not 
heard,  that  the  everlasting  God,  the  Lord,  the  Creator  of  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary  ?"  No  pause 
occurred  through  all  the  unmeasured  periods  of  the  geological 
process ;  no  revolution,  which  rendered  it  necessaiy  to  begin 
the  work  airain. 


INORGA.NIC    NATURE.  87 

6.  Descending  even  to  the  chemical  properties  of  matter, 
we  find  a  gradation  in  the  nature  of  its  elementary  substances. 
For  convenience,  indeed,  these  fifty  or  sixty  substances  are 
divided  into  the  metallic  and  the  non-metallic.  But  there  is 
no  such  a  break  in  their  characteristics  as  to  justify  this  divi- 
sion. Arsenic,  antimony,  phosphorus,  selenium,  sulphur,  con- 
stitute a  connecting  chain  between  the  two  series. 


V. 

Activity. —  Another  of  our  laws  prepares  us  to  find  the  uni- 
verse of  matter  in  a  state  of  activity. 

1.  Accordingly,  even  the  present  repose  of  nature  is  only 
apparent.  Not  an  atom,  not  a  world  is  at  rest.  The  simplest 
and  minutest  body  is  the  subject  of  internal  movements  among 
the  particles  composing  it.  The  interior  of  the  earth  is  inces- 
santly reacting  on  the  exterior.  Waves  of  motion  pass  through 
it.  The  bursting  forth  of  hot  springs,  jets  of  steam,  mud  volca- 
noes, the  up-heaval  of  dome-shaped  mountains,  the  appearance 
of  new  eruptive  islands,  the  processes  of  rock  formation,  and 
the  steady  rising  in  its  level  of  Sweden  and  other  portions  of 
the  earth's  surface,  proclaim  the  constant  action  of  an  elastic 
vapor  within.  "  Could  we  obtain  daily  news  of  the  state  of 
the  whole  of  the  earth's  crust,  we  should,  in  all  probability,  be- 
come convinced  that  some  point  or  another  of  its  surface  is 
ceaselessly  shaken ;  that  there  is  uninterrupted  reaction  of  the 
interior  upon  the  exterior  going  on."i 

By  the  operation  of  the  various  forces  and  modifications  of 
the  law  of  attraction,  everything  is  changing  its  relations  or  its 
place ;  the  granite  itself  yields ;  and  nature  is  kept  in  mutual 
action  and  reaction.  "  Electricity,  as  a  chemical  agent,  may 
be  considered  not  only  as  directly  j)roducing  an  infinite  variety 
of  changes,  but,  likewise,  as  influencing  almost  all  which  take 
place.  There  are  not  two  substances  on  the  surface  of  the 
globe,  that  are  not  in  difierent  electrical  relations  to  each  other ; 
and  chemical  attraction  itself  seems  to  be  a  peculiar  form  of 
the  exhibition  of  electrical  attraction  ;  and  wherever  the  atmos- 
phere, or  water,  or  any  part  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  gains 
accumulated  electricity  of  a  different  kind  from  the  contiguous 
surfaces,  the  tendency  of  this  electricity  is  to  produce  new  ar- 
rangements of  the  parts  of  the  surfaces."^ 

^  Humboldt's  Cosmos,  p.221. 

^  Sir  Humphrey  Davy's  Consolations  in  Travel^  p.  271. 


88  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

All  is  in  motion  around  and  beyond  the  earth.  Climate  is 
the  aggregate  result  of  an  unknown  variety  of  agents  and  laws 
in  constant  play.  The  comparative  repose  of  the  complicated 
atmosphere  depends  on  the  incessant  activity  of  its  elements. 
The  northern  light  is  a  magnetic  storm  —  "a  terrestrial  activity 
raised  to  the  pitch  of  a  luminous  phenomenon,"  —  as  lightning 
is  evolved  by  an  electrical  storm.  The  fall  of  meteoric  stones 
indicates  the  forces  which  are  at  work  in  the  regions  beyond 
our  planet.  A  solitary  star  shooting  across  the  blue  vault  of 
heaven  tells  us  that  the  realms  of  space,  calm  and  dream- 
less though  they  look,  are  realms  of  all -pervading,  burning 
activity.  But,  at  times,  these  "  fiery  tears  "  of  the  sky  are  seen 
to  fall  in  showers,  and  even  streams ;  awakening  the  idea  of 
an  ever-circulating  ring  composed  of  myriads  of  luminous 
meteoric  bodies,  intersecting  the  orbit  of  the  earth.  The  zodi- 
acal hght  circles  round  the  sun.  The  pulsations  which  tremble 
through  the  tail  of  a  comet  millions  of  miles  in  length,  are 
probably  only  apparent,  and  produced  by  our  atmosphere ;  but 
the  nuclei  of  those  comets  "  bind,  by  their  attractive  power,  the 
very  outermost  particles  of  the  tail  that  is  streaming  away  at 
the  distance  of  millions  of  miles  from  them."  The  motions  of 
the  double  stars  reveal  the  presence  of  the  gravitating  force, 
in  the  remotest  regions  of  space.  The  solar  system  changes 
its  place  in  the  universe.  Stars  appear  and  disappear.  The 
astral  universe  moves.  "  If  we  imagine,  as  in  a  vision  of  the 
fancy,"  says  Humboldt,  "  the  acuteness  of  our  sense  preternatu- 
rally  sharpened  even  to  the  extreme  limit  of  telescopic  vision, 
and  incidents,  which  are  separated  by  vast  intervals  of  time, 
compressed  into  a  day  or  an  hour,  everything  like  rest  in  spacial 
existence  will  forthwith  disappear.  We  shall  find  the  innume- 
rable hosts  of  the  fixed  stars  commoved  in  groups  in  diflTerent 
directions;  nebulae  drawing  hither  and  thither,  like  cosmic 
clouds  ;  the  milky  way  breaking  up  in  particular  parts,  and  its 
veil  rent ;  motion  in  every  part  of  the  vault  of  heaven." 

2.  Now  this  ideal  picture  may  help  us  to  conceive  of  scenes 
which  actually  existed  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  material 
universe.  If  matter  first  appeared  at  the  Omnipotent  call,  in 
nebulous  masses,  or  if  the  heavenly  bodies  generally  have  pass- 
ed througli  changes  similar  to  those  of  our  own  planet,  space  must 
have  been  the  theatre  of  dynamic  activity  and  conflict  beyond 
all  our  present  powers  of  illustration.  The  crust  of  the  earth 
tells  its  own  eventful  history.  Time  was  when  that  solid  but 
still  thin  crust  ever  quivered  and  undulated  with  the  concussive 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  89 

forces  within.  Earthquakes  shattered  and  rifted  it,  and  opened, 
in  all  directions,  volcanic  communication  between  the  molten 
interior  and  the  surface.  Tlirough  the  yawning  and  abyss-like 
fissures  which  traversed  it,  mountain  chains  were  uplifted ;  or 
else  eruptive  matters  were  poured  forth  from  unknov/n  depths 

—  granite,  porphyry,  and  basalt  —  an  ocean  of  rock.  Sedi- 
mentary formations  took  place,  through  mechanical  and  chem- 
ical action  of  an  intensity  incomparably  greater  than  that 
which  obtained  in  later  eras.  Subterraneous  forces  repeatedly 
lifted  these  ever-thickening  strata  from  the  beds  of  the  primi- 
tive waters,  and  allowed  them  to  sink  back  again.  But  besides 
unheaving  these  masses,  dislocating  and  rending  them  asunder, 
the  eruptive  rocks  chemically  transformed  them  into  new 
species  of  rocks.  In  the  great  subterranean  laboratory,  the 
metamorphic  process  was  ever  proceeding  on  a  scale  immeasu- 
rable. And  while  this  mighty  action  from  within  was  penetrat- 
ing outwardly  and  changing  the  nature  of  the  older  strata, 
causes  of  equal  potency  without  were  maintaining  the  antag- 
onist process  of  stratification.  Vast  beds  of  alluvium  or  drift 
were  formed ;  and  inland  lakes  and  pent-up  seas,  displaced  by 
the  upheaval  of  some  new  range  of  Alps  or  Apennines,  rushed 
tumultuously  down,  displacing,  in  their  turn,  the  mountain 
masses  which  obstructed  their  course,  and  hastened  to  resume 
their  office  of  chemical  deposition. 

The  history  of  all  these  changes,  we  say,  is  legibly  incribed 
in  the  earth  itself.  It  is  only  by  beholding  the  etfects"  of  such 
activity,  as  preserved  from  the  morning  of  time,  and  still  con- 
tinued in  our  presence,  that  we  know  anything  of  the  laws  and 
properties  of  matter.     A  dead,  motionless  expanse  of  matter 

—  if  such  a  thing  were  possible  —  would  be  a  petrifying  blank 
It  would  reveal  nothing  of  itself,  and  could  say  nothing  of  its 
Maker.  But  such  an  anomaly  is  unknown.  Matter  is  full  of 
the  life  of  motion.  Geology  admits  us  into  the  laboratory  of 
the  past ;  and  we  behold,  laid  up  for  our  inspection,  the  results 
of  activities  and  powers,  which  fills  the  mind  with  awe  to 
imagine.  We  see  that  the  great  antagonist  processes  of  sedi- 
mentation and  crystallization  have  never  paused.  The  endless 
admixtures  of  matter  have  maintained  its  forces  in  ever-vary- 
ing play.  And  still  its  multifarious  chemical  diversity  evokes 
the  spirit  of  change  and  motion.  Its  particles  essay  to  arrange 
themselves  in  regular  forms.  In  its  ever-shifting  restlessness, 
it  discloses  relations  to  light,  to  heat,  and  to  the  phenomena  of 
electro-magnetism.     In   a  v/ord,  its  activity  reveals  its  laws 


90  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

and  develops  its  properties ;  and  the  record  of  these  is  the 
record  of  the  Power  wliich  originated  and  keeps  them  all  in 
motion. 

^• 

Development. —  Here,  also,  according  to  another  law,  the 
same  property  which  existed  in  the  preceding,  or  inferior  part 
of  the  stage,  is  not  only  carried  up  to  the  higher,  but  is  there 
applied  to  a  new  and  a  higher  purpose.  Cohesion  finds  its 
complement  in  affinity  ;  and  affinity  finds  its  perfection  in  crys- 
tallization. This  appears  to  be  the  highest  state  of  mere  inor- 
ganic matter.  It  involves  the  idea  of  numerical  and  developed 
symmetry.  A  body  perfectly  crystallized,  and  exhibiting  not 
merely  geometrical  symmetry  of  outward  shape,  but  showing, 
by  its  cleavage,  its  transparency,  its  uniform  and  determinate 
optical  properties,  that  the  same  regularity  pervades  every  por- 
tion of  the  mass,  is  an  object  for  the  production  of  which  every 
great  physical  law  and  element  of  nature  appears  to  have  com- 
bined —  suggesting  to  the  imagination  a  beautiful  pre-intima- 
tion  of  the  coming  flower. 

VII. 

Relations. —  Another  of  our  laws  warrants  us  to  expect  that 
every  object  and  event  in  the  material  universe  will  be  found 
to  be  variously  related.  Accordingly,  not  an  atom  floats  apart 
in  isolation ;  no  change,  however  slight,  is  self-originated,  or 
terminates  with  itself. 

1.  Matter  has  relations  internal  and  coexistent;  —  by  the 
attraction  of  cohesion,  for  example,  the  particles  of  masses  are 
kept  together  even  when  in  violent  motion.  It  has  also  rela- 
tions external  and  coexistent ;  for,  by  gravitation,  these  masses 
themselves  are  bound  to  each  other.  "  When  we  contemplate," 
says  Sir  John  Herschel,  "  the  constituents  of  the  planetary  sys- 
tem from  the  point  of  view  wliich  this  relation  affords  us,  it 
is  no  longer  mere  analogy  which  strikes  us  —  no  longer  a  gen- 
eral resemblance  among  them,  as  individuals  independent  of 
each  other,  and  circulating  about  the  sun,  each  according  to  its 
own  peculiar  nature,  and  connected  with  it  by  its  own  peculiar 
tie.  The  resemblance  is  now  perceived  to  be  a  true  family 
likeness  ;  they  are  bound  up  in  one  chain  —  interwoven  in  one 
web  of  mutual  relation  and  harmonious  agreement  —  subjected 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  91 

to  one  pervading  influence,  which  extends  from  the  centre  to 
the  farthest  limits  of  that  great  system,  of  whicli  all  of  them, 
the  earth  included,  must  henceforth  be  regarded  as  members."  i 

2.  Matter  has  relations  internal  and  successively  existent ; 
chemical  changes  which  take  place  in  all  inorganic  bodies  by 
motions  which  are  not  sensible,  or  at  least  not  measurable. 
And  it  has  relations  external  and  successively  existent ;  and 
which  proclaim  themselves  in  the  sensible  and  measurable  mo- 
tions of  bodies.  If,  instead  of  confining  myself  to  the  bare 
illustration  of  the  law  now  under  consideration,  it  were  my 
object  to  enlarge  on  the  relations  of  inorganic  nature  scientiil- 
cally  regarded,'-^  this  would  be  the  place  for  their  introduction 
and  methodical  distribution ;  for  the  coexistent  phenomena  of 
matter  belong  to  natural  history,  or  are  related  to  space ;  and 
its  successively  existent  phenomena  to  natural  philosophy,  or 
are  related  to  time. 

3.  Among  the  relations  more  obvious  and  interesting  to  a 
dweller  on  the  earth,  I  would  merely  advert  to  the  relative 
quantities  of  land  and  sea,  a  relation  which,  as  it  was  often 
changed  in  the  early  geological  periods,  must  have  produced 
corresponding  changes  npon  the  distribution  of  temperature ; 
lo  the  relation  between  the  velocity  of  the  earth's  rotation  on 
its  axis,  and  the  degree  of  its  mean  temperature ;  and,  to  the 
geological  relations  between  the  interior  and  exterior  of  the 
earth  —  between  the  aqueous  formations  without,  and  the  igne- 
ous processes  within,  by  which  rocky  masses,  granitic,  porphy- 
ritic,  and  serpentine,  forcing  up  their  way  from  below,  have 
burst  through  the  sedimentary  strata,  hardening,  changing,  or 
variously  commingling  them. 

4.  In  fine,  every  object  and  event-in  the  material  universe 
is  all-related.  Action  and  reaction,  relations  of  coexistence  and 
of  sequence,  are  everywhere.  In  the  process  of  generaliza- 
tion, science  discovers  that  the  relations  of  physical  cause  and 
effect  are  only  secondary,  or  phenomenal ;  that  they  are  pro- 
perly medial,  referring  it  back  to  something  higher,  more  gen- 
eral and  comprehensive  still.  The  discovery  of  the  law  of 
attraction,  enabled  man  to  generalize  many  inferior  laws,  and 
to  point  out  their  subordinate  place  and  their  relations.  But 
does  not  attraction  itself  sustain  a  relation  to  something  prior 
and  more  general  still  ?     To  ascertain  this  is  the  office,  and 

^  Astronomy,  Cabinet  Cyclopedia. 

^  See  Mrs.  Somcrville's  Connection  of  the  Pliysicul  Sciences,  passim. 


92  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

the  present  occupation  of  science.  Man  only  knows  —  as  a 
fact  of  reason  —  that,  generaUze  the  relations  of  matter  as  he 
may,  there  must  be  a  point  at  which  the  whole  coexistent  series 
merges  in  the  will  of  the  great  Originating  Cause ;  and  that, 
of  the  whole  series  of  sequent  relations,  there  is  no  point  from 
which  that  agency  is  absent.  The  most  absolute,  comprehen- 
sive, and  profound,  of  all  the  relations  of  matter,  is  that  of  the 
dependence  on  the  will  of  God. 

vin. 

Order. —  As  each  of  the  physical  laws  to  which  we  have 
adverted  may  be  supposed  to  have  come  into  operation,  in  the 
opening  stage  of  creation,  in  succession ;  so,  according  to  anoth- 
er of  our  laws,  in  the  same  order  of  succession  they  operate  still 
The  crystalline  state  of  the  body  may  be  destroyed,  and  yet 
the  affinity  and  the  gravitation  remain ;  the  affinity  may  next 
be  destroyed,  and  yet  the  gravitation  remain.  Each  prior  law 
acts,  in  so  far,  independently  of  that  which  succeeds  it ;  each  sub- 
sequent law  is  dej^endent  on  pre-existing  laws,  or  is  generated 
by  them,  and  yet  harmonizes  with  them,  or  subordinates  them 
to  itself.  This  is  seen  alike  in  the  formation  of  the  crystal,  in 
the  laboratory  of  the  chemist,  and  in  the  granite  masses  which 
we  find  thrust  up  from  the  subterranean  laboratory,  through 
the  crust  of  the  earth. 

IX. 

Influence. — We  may  expect  also  that  everything  will  bring 
in  it,  and  with  it,  in  its  own  capability  of  subserving  the  end, 
a  reason  why  all  otlier  things  should  be  influenced  by  it ;  a 
reason  for  the  degree  in  which  they  should  be  influenced  by 
it ;  and  for  the  degree  in  v/hich  it,  in  its  turn,  should  be  influ- 
enced by  everything  else.  The  manner  in  which  one  law  may 
be  said  to  wait  on  another,  we  have  seen.  And  the  way  (tak- 
ing our  example  from  gravitation)  in  which  the  lighter  mass 
may  be  said  to  be  subordinated  to  the  heavier,  is  equally  evi- 
dent ;  for  matter  attracts  directly  as  the  mass,  and  inversely 
as  the  squares  of  the  distance.  So  that  it  does  not  follow,  from 
the  superior  gravity  of  the  earth,  that  the  niote  floating  near 
the  surface  has  no  weight.  The  earth  and  a  gossamer  mutu- 
ally attract  each  other,  in  the.  proportion  of  the  mass  of  the 
earth  tc  the  mass  of  the  gossamer,  but  only  in  that  proportion. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  93 

Every  mass  finds  a  place,  and  every  action  produces  reaction  ; 
but,  for  the  same  reason  that  the  one  is  rehited  to  space  at  all, 
and  the  other  to  motion  and  time,  the  relation  of  each  is  pro- 
portioned, definite,  regulated  by  law. 

X. 

Subordination. —  In  harmony  with  the  last  named  law,  we 
are  led  by  another  of  our  principles  to  expect  that  everything 
subordinate  in  rank,  though  it  may  have  been  prior  in  its  ori- 
gin, will  be  subject  to  each  higher  object  or  law  of  creation. 
The  facts  adduced  under  the  two  laws  immediately  preceding 
will,  it  is  presumed,  sufficiently  exemplify  this  principle.  Illus- 
trations of  it,  as  applied  to  organic  nature,  will  be  found  in 
their  proper  places,  in  the  subsequent  part  of  this  treatise. 

XL 

Uniformity. —  According  to  another  of  our  principles,  nat- 
ural laws,  though  originally  contingent,  as  opposed  to  absolute- 
ly necessary,  are,  as  far  as  we  know  them,  uniform  and  uni- 
versal.    "Not  one  faileth." 

1.  The  same  law  which  fonns  the  tear  into  a  globule,  pro- 
duces the  spherical  form  of  the  vast  masses  which  people  space. 
All  the  phenomena  of  the  material  system,  as  far  as  we  know 
them,  are  reducible  to  mathematical  laws.  The  rotation  of  the 
earth  in  twenty-four  hours  has  not  varied  by  the  one-hundredth 
part  of  a  second,  since  the  age  of  Hipparchus  —  full  two  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Newton,  indeed,  inferred  that  the  irregulari- 
ties arising  "from  the  mutual  actions  of  comets  and  planets  upon 
one  another  will  be  apt  to  increase,  till  the  system  wants  a 
reformation."  i  He  left  these  perturbations  to  be  calculated 
by  his  successors.  And  Lagrange  and  Laplace,  by  a  profound 
analysis,  established  the  great  principle  that  these  variations 
are  limited  within  certain  periods,  and  that  they  alternate  with 
periods  of  restoration.  This  has  been  called  "  the  stability  of 
the  planetary  system."  And  thus  laws,  originally  contingent 
on  the  will  of  God,  are  made,  by  the  same  will,  permanent  and 
universal. 

2.  In  affirming  the  invariableness  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
then,  it  is  to  be  distinctly  understood ;  first,  that  this  constancy 

*  Optics,  Query  31. 


94  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

involves  no  idea  of  eternal  or  independent  existence,  but  the 
contrary.  "  The  question, —  what  are  the  laws  of  nature  ?  may- 
be stated  thus :  what  are  the  fewest  and  simplest  assumptions, 
which,  being  granted,  the  whole  existing  order  of  nature  would 
result?  .  .  .  When  Kepler  expressed  (he  regularity  which  ex- 
ists in- the  observed  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  by  the 
three  general  propositions  called  his  laws,  he,,  in  so  doing, 
pointed  out  three  simple  volitions,  by  which,  instead  of  a  much 
greater  number,  it  appeared  that  the  v.hole  scheme  of  the 
heavenly  motions,  so  far  as  yet  observed,  might  be  conceived 
to  have  been  produced."  i  Laws  of  nature,  then,  strictly  speak- 
ing, is  a  phrase  denoting  only  the  uniformities  existing  among 
natural  phenomena.  To  speak  of  these  uniformities  as  if  they 
were  producing  or  regulating  powers,  is  obviously  absurd. 
They  simply  presu23pose  such  powers  or  volitions,  and  are 
their  manifestations.  The  first  sequence  was  a  thing  produ- 
ced, and  proclaimed  a  producer.  Secondly,  the  regularity  of 
the  laws  of  nature  is  quite  compatible  with  the  numerical  in- 
crease of  their  manifestations,  and  even,  conditionally,  with  the 
numerical  increase  of  the  volitions  which  they  manifest.  Un- 
less the  universe  was  flashed  into  existence,  entire  and  com- 
plete, at  once,  the  phenomena  of  nature  must  have  become 
more  complex  and  multiform,  as  time  has  advanced.  Nor, 
thirdly,  is  the  stability  of  nature  inconsistent  with  apparent  de- 
rangements and  partial  perturbations ;  for  these  very  pertur- 
bations are  only  manifestations  of  other  created  laws.  Still, 
however,  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  are  of  a  kind  to  inti- 
mate, that  all  which  is  now  understood  as  included  in  the  sta- 
bility of  creation,  may  prove  to  be  included  in  a  still  more 
comprehensive  law  of  change.  And  hence,  fourthly,  the  reg- 
ularity of  nature  for  unnumbered  ages,  is  quite  compatible 
with  subsequent  changes  in  its  constitution.  As  its  laws  were 
originally  contingent  on  the  Divine  appointment,  so  may  be 
their  continuance.  Its  present  stability  may  be  only  provi- 
sional. And  they  who  would  abandon  its  phenomena  to  ca- 
price, are  but  little  more  blameworthy  than  they  who  deem 
its  laws  for  ever  unalterable.  The  laws  of  nature  are  uniform 
and  universal,  but  only  conditionally  so. 


^  Hill's  System  of  Logic,  vol.  i.  p.  384. 


INORGANIC    NATURF.  95 

XII. 

Obligation. —  One  of  our  laws  prepares  us  to  expect  that 
everything  belonging  to  the  great  system  of  creation  will  be 
found,  either  promoting,  or  existing  under  an  obligation  to 
promote,  the  great  end,  commensurate  with  its  means,  and  re- 
lations. 

1.  Of  course,  obligation  can  be  predicated  of  inanimate  matter 
only  in  a  metaphorical  sense,  similar  to  that  in  which  the  same 
material  nature  is  said  to  be  governed  by  laws.  Now  laws, 
strictly  speaking,  are  moral  rules  ;  "  rules  for  the  conscious  ac- 
tions of  a  person ;  rules  which,  as  a  matter  of  possibility,  we 
may  obey  or  transgress ;  the  latter  event  being  combined,  not 
with  an  impossibility,  but  with  a  penalty.  But  the  Laws  of 
Nature  are  something  different  from  this ;  they  are  rules  for 
that  which  things  are  to  do  and  suffer ;  and  this  by  no  con- 
sciousness or  will  of  theirs.  They  are  rules  describing  the 
mode  in  which  things  do  act ;  they  are  invariably  obeyed ; 
their  trangression  is  not  punished,  it  is  excluded.  The  language 
of  a  moral  law  is,  man  shall  not  kill ;  the  language  of  a  Law 
of  Nature  is,  a  stone  will  fall  to  the  earth."  Here  "  all  things 
are  ordered  by  number,  and  weight,  and  measure.  '  God,'  as 
was  said  by  the  ancients,  '  works  by  geometry;'  the  legislation 
of  the  material  universe  is  necessarily  delivered  in  the  lan- 
guage of  mathematics ;  the  stars  in  their  courses  are  regulated 
by  the  properties  of  conic  sections,  and  the  winds  depend  on 
arithmetical  and  geometrical  progressions  of  elasticity  and  pres- 
sure." 1 

2.  As  "  the  laws  of  nature,"  then,  can  only  properly  denote 
those  rules  by  which  God  is  pleased  to  regulate  the  phenomena 
of  nature  —  rules  revealed  by  the  mode  of  His  own  w^orking 
in  nature ;  so,  if  obligation  be  predicated  of  nature,  it  can  only 
denote  the  necessity  which  He  is  pleased  to  incur  to  operate 
uniformly  in  harmony  with  those  rules,  in  order  to  the  attain- 
ment of  a  proposed  end.  Thus,  if  the  planetary  system  is  to 
be  maintained  as  it  is,  certain  conditions  must  be  fulfilled. 
With  a  perpetual  tendency  to  fly  off  in  a  straight  line  from  its 
solar  centre,  the  physical  well-being  or  continuance  of  the  sys- 
tem depends  on  its  mechanical  obedience  to  an  opposite  law. 
The  stability  and  physical  progress  of  the  whole  depend  on 
the  perfect  balance  of  laws  apparently  opposed  to  each  other ; 

*  Professor  Whewell's  B.  Treatise,  chap.  ii. 


96  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

and  accordingly  the  balance  is  allowed  to  know  no  material 
disturbance.  "  For  ever,  O  Lord,  thy  word  is  settled  in  heaven: 
Thou  hast  established  the  earth,  and  it  abideth.  They  con- 
tinue this  day  according  to  thine  ordinances  :  for  all  are  thy 
servants."  ' 


xin. 

Well-being. —  By  another  of  our  laws  we  are  led  to  expect 
that  everything  will  enjoy  an  amount  of  good,  or  exhibit  a 
degree  of  well-being,  proportionate  to  the  degree  of  its  con- 
formity to  the  laws  of  its  being.  Here,  again,  our  language, 
in  its  present  application,  must  be  understood  metaphorically. 
We  are  still  in  a  domain  in  which  obedience  is  only  mechan- 
ical, and  from  which  the  possibility  of  transgression  is  ex- 
cluded. 

It  might,  indeed,  be  remarked,  that  even  here  we  meet  with 
many  things  which  are  at  once  suggestive  of  an  ideal  physical 
perfection,  and  which  yet  exhibit  departures  from  it  —  orbits 
elliptical,  motions  with  perturbations,  spheres  bulging,  depress- 
ed, and  even  the  surface  of  such  a  sphere  rising  and  sinking 
with  Himalayan  irregularities.  But  all  this  is  according  to 
prescribed  law ;  and,  as  such,  is  a  part  of  the  material  system. 
As  far,  therefore,  as  the  principle  now  under  consideration  has 
any  application  here,  it  can  relate  only  to  the  necessary  changes 
and  apparent  conflicts  which  the  material  phenomena  exhibit. 
The  composition  of  a  chemical  body,  for  example,  depends  on 
the  presence  of  certain  conditions,  a  mechanical  force  disturbs 
or  destroys  one  or  more  of  these  conditions,  and  the  composi- 
tion is  at  an  end.  Certain  stars  have  disappeared  from  the 
firmament ;  a  fact,  proclaiming,  at  least,  that  the  laws  on  which 
their  visibility  depended  are  no  longer  in  operation  in  relation 
to  them,  but  have  been  overborne  by  some  counteracting  power. 
Certain  changes  have  been  going  on  in  the  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  from  the  first  records  of  science  ;  —  the  eccen- 
tricity of  the  earth's  orbit  has  been  diminishing ;  the  moon  has 
been  moving  quicker  and  quicker ;  and  the  obliquity  of  the 
ecliptic  becoming  less.  But,  according  to  Laplace,  the  distur- 
bance never  passes  a  certain  limit.  The  system  contains  a 
provision  for  complete  restoration,  so  that  the  continuance  of 


*  Ps.  cxix.  89—91. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  97 

the  system  depends  on  the  certainty  of  that  provision,  and  on 
its  mechanical  conformity  thereto.' 

XIV. 

Analogy. — We  may  expect  that  the  whole  creation,  as  it  is 
to  answer  a  purpose,  is  arranged  on  a  plan,  and  is  therefore 
analogous  in  all  its  parts.  Accordingly,  relations  of  resem- 
blance form  the  subject  of  the  science  of  physical  induction. 
"  These  are  a  grammar  for  the  understanding  of  nature ;"  2  the 
perception  of  such  resemblances,  and  the  conviction  of  their 
infinite  extension,  form  the  ground  of  that  antecedent  proba- 
bility of  success  which  encourages  the  inductive  inquirer  to 
advance  from  the  known  to  the  unknown.  Induction  is  not  a 
random  aggregation  of  instances,  it  involves  the  idea  that  na- 
ture is  at  unity  with  itself,  and  thus  suggests  the  direction  of 
his  inquiries.  Every  addition  to  his  knowledge  is  an  additional 
clue  to  future  discovery ;  "  for  nature  is  very  consonant  and 
conformable  to  herself."^  Now,  here,  in  this  opening  stage 
of  creation,  analogies  already  abound;  numerical  analogies, 
glimpses  of  which,  from  Pythagoras  to  Kepler,  have  disposed 
the  loftiest  minds  to  indulge  in  mysticism ;  and  analogies,  which, 
by  the  scientific  use  of  general  symbols,  or  algebraic  formulae, 
have  led  to  discoveries  4  at  which  the  discoverer  himself  was 
not  aiming.  Here,  analogies  of  motion  exist ;  suggesting  to 
a  Newton,  a  relation  between  the  falling  of  a  stone  to  the  earth 
and  the  circulation  of  the  moon  around  the  earth ;  the  period- 
ical return  of  comets ;  the  union  of  the  planetary  system. 
Here  are  remarkable  points  of  resemblance,  if  nothing  more, 
between  electricity,  galvanism,  and  magnetism ;  striking  par- 
allels between  light  and  sound ;  and,  indeed,  such  resemblances 
as  have  not  merely  ever  been  the  only  legitimate  guide  of  man 
in  his  interpretations  of  nature,  but  have  enabled  him  to  theo- 
rise m  advance  of  his  facts  —  to  announce  the  existence  of  a 
law  afterwards  to  be  discovered.     Often,  too,  have  they  forced 

*  Hence  the  apostrophe  of  the  philosophic  poet  of  nature  in  his  Ode  to 
Duty: 

"  Stern  lawgiver ! 

Thou  dost  preserve  the  stars  from  wrong ; 

And  the  most  ancient  heavens  through  thee  are  fresh  and  strong." 

*  Bishop  Berkely's  Siris,  p.  120. 

^  Newton;  31st  Query  at  the  end  of  Optics. 

•*  Professor  Forbes  on  Polarization  of  Heat ;  E4inb.  Trans.,  vol.  xiii. 
^ ■  "9  '         ■      ■ 


98  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

him  from  the  arbitrary  distributions  of  facts  in  which  he  had 
taken  refuge,  and  have  conducted  him,  as  by  a  clue,  to  the 
natural  classifications  of  the  Creator  himself 

2.  Here,  in  this  primitive  stage  of  the  Divine  Manifestation, 
the  Deity  appears  casting  the  moulds,  sketching  the  outhnes, 
and  constituting  the  relations  of  future  things.  As  the  laws  as 
yet  in  operation  are  few  and  simple,  hints  and  shadows  of  the 
nobler  things  to  come  are  all  that  can  be  expected.  But,  like 
a  hieroglyphic  language  in  its  early  state,  every  color  is  a 
symbol,  every  form  expressive  of  an  idea,  and,  as  in  such  a 
language  too,  to  be  subsequently  employed  to  represent  loftier 
truths  not  yet  disclosed.  Here. —  could  we  have  looked  on 
the  scene  with  a  prophetic  eye  —  here,  we  might  have  said, 
the  poet  will  find  many  of  his  most  impressive  images ;  the 
reasoner  his  comparisons ;  and  hence  the  scientific  theorist  will 
derive  his  prolific  suggestions.  To  these  mountains  Divine 
Faithfulness  will  point  and  say,  "  It  is  like  the  great  mountains, 
and  it  reacheth  to  the  heavens."  Divine  Immutability,  point- 
ing to  this  firmament  as  an  image  of  its  own  stability,  will 
declare,  "  If  the  heavens  can  pass  away,  then  my  covenant 
shall  fail."  And  creating  power,  deriving  a  proof  of  omnipo- 
tence from  the  magnitude  of  the  material  universe,  will  simply 
afiirm,  "I  the  Lord  made  all  these  things."  God  is  here 
sowing  the  seeds  of  things  for  all  the  future. 

3.  Classification. —  Laplace  has  said  that  "  an  intelligence, 
which,  at  a  given  instant,  should  know  all  the  forces  by  which 
nature  is  urged,  and  the  respective  situation  of  the  beings  of 
which  nature  is  composed ;  if,  moreover,  it  were  sufficiently 
comprehensive  to  subject  these  data  to  calculation,  w^ould 
include  in  the  same  formula,  the  movements  of  the  largest 
bodies  of  the  universe  and  those  of  the  slightest  atom.  Noth- 
ing would  be  uncertain  to  such  an  intelligence,  and  the  future, 
no  less  than  the  past,  would  be  present  to  its  eyes."  And 
Leibnitz,  before  him,  had  gone  still  farther,  representing  the 
Eternal  Mind  as  incessantly  occupied  in  the  solution  of  this 
problem  —  The  state  of  one  monad,  or  elementafy  atom,  being 
given,  to  determine  the  state,  past,  present  and  future,  of  the 
whole  universe.  Now,  to  conceive  of  truths  physical  and 
moral  as  being  linked  together  mathematically,  changes  ethics 
into  physics,  and  is  alike  repugnant  to  philosophy  and  religion. 
Nor  is  it  less  so  to  conceive  even  of  the  laws  of  mechanical 
force  and  motion  as  if  they  were  superior  to  the  Will  which 
produced  them,  and  were  as  necessarily  binding  on  Him  as  on 


INORGANIC    NATL'll 


99 


the  phenomena  of  matter.  We  freely  admit  that  all  mechani- 
cal actions  arc  thus  open  to  tlie  calculation  of  the  Supreme 
Intelligence,  for  they  are  only  the  expressions  of  His  own 
laws  ;  but  we  would  always  accompany  the  admission  with  the 
remarks  that  His  knowledge  of  material  phenomena  is  inde- 
pendent of  such  calculations,  and  that  the  phenomena  them- 
selves never  pass  from  His  control. 

4.  Such  a  knowledge  of  the  material  universe  is  the  unat- 
tainable ideal  of  human  science;  and  every  new  discovery, 
however  minute,  seems  to  bring  us  a  step  nearer  to  it.  But 
a  perfect  physical  science  would  require  a  knowledge  of  all 
the  properties  of  matter ;  the  processes  which  develop  these 
properties  ;  the  laws  of  these  processes ;  the  number  of  ele- 
mentary or  undecompoundable  substances  ;  the  combinations 
of  which  they  admit  ^  together  with  the  original  quantities  and 
relative  positions  of  each.  Now,  were  we  possessed  of  such 
knowledge,  the  principles  of  our  theory  would  enable  us  to 
classify  inorganic  phenomena  according  to  the  method  in  which 
they  have  been  arranged  and  employed  in  nature.  For  we 
should  place  them  according  to  the  order  in  which  they  come 
into  operation  ;  and  according  to  their  relative  value,  or  to  the 
nature  and  number  of  the  properties  which  they  include,  and  of 
the  changes  which  tJiey  are  capable  of  producing  upon  others  ;  so 
that  no  property  would  be  regarded  as  absolutely  valueless. 

5.  According  to  this  method,  1.  No  inorganic  characteristic 
is  to  be  regarded  as  absolutely  valueless.  If  minerals  are  to 
be  classified,  their  external  characters  of  hardness,  specific 
gravity,  color,  lustre,  and  crystalline  forms,  as  well  as  their 
chemical  constitution,  are  to  be  taken  into  the  account.  2. 
That  property,  or  union  of  properties,  is  to  be  held  as  the  most 
important  which  contributes  most  to  distinguish  and  individual- 
ise the  body  to  which  it  belongs,  and  is  most  capable  of  affect- 
ing naturally  other  things.  3.  Such  property  cannot  be  arbi- 
trarily assigned,  but  must  be  determined  by  observation  or 
experiment ;  for  it  may  be  the  most  unobvious  and  antecedently- 
unexpected  property.  4.  As  even  inorganic  elements  exhibit 
a  great  system  of  relations,  an  arrangement  formed  on  one 
true  principle  will  not  be  found  at  variance  with  an  arrange- 
ment formed  on  another  true  principle. 

True,  much  of  the  knowledge  essential  for  such  a  classifica- 
tion, is  still  wanting ;  knowledge  as  essential  as  that  of  the 
laws  of  mechanics,  and  of  the  law  of  definite  proportions, 
which  we  do  possess.     But  not  the  less  important  is  it  that 


100  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

material  phenomena  should  meantime  be  arranged,  as  fa?  as 
we  know-them,  according  to  the  principles  suggested;  that,  a 
supposed  elementary  body,  for  example,  should  be  regarded 
as  such  until  it  can  be  proved  to  be  otherwise,  since  its  power 
of  resisting  attempts  to  decompose  it  shows  that  it  is  a  body  of 
primary  importance  in  the  economy  of  nature.  For,  if  our 
method  of  classification  be  correct,  it  cannot  fail,  by  calling 
attention  to  those  leading  properties  on  which  it  is  founded,  to 
bring  before  us  the  effects  resulting  from  their  operation,  and 
thus  to  increase  our  knowledge ;  which  increase  of  knowledge 
again  would  enable  us  to  test  and  improve  our  classification. 

XV. 

Contingent. —  In  harmony  ivith  another  of  our  Laws,  the 
constitution  of  the  material  system  may  he  expected  to  he  found 
contingent  —  i.  e.,  resolvahle  into  the  sovereign  will  of  the  Divine 
Creator ;  and^  as  such,  to  he  ascertainable  by  ohservation  and 
experiment  alone. 

1.  For  example,  under  the  present  collocation  and  motion  of 
the  solar  system,  or  of  any  similar  system,  the  simultaneous 
existence  of  every  mass  of  matter  composing  it  was  mathe- 
matically necessary ;  but  tliis  does  not  prove  that  the  existmg 
balance  of  motions  might  not  be  a  change  from  some  previous 
arrangement;  or  that  it  might  not  have  been  an  originally 
selected  balance.  The  laws  of  motion  cannot  be  shown  to  have 
been  inevitable.  No  reason  can  be  assigned  why  they  must 
obtain.  Gravitation,  as  it  is,  does  not  exist  necessarily;  in 
many  respects  it  is  a  unique  law,  characterized  by  peculiar 
properties  ;  and,  for  aught  we  can  see,  it  might  have  been  vari- 
ously modified.  "  Its  being  found  everywhere  is  necessary  for 
its  uses  ;  but  this  is  so  far  from  being  a  sufficient  explanation 
of  its  existence,  that  it  is  an  additional  fact  to  be  explained." 
That  peculiarity  of  the  satellites,  by  which  their  motion  of  ro- 
tation is  exactly  equal  to  their  motion  of  revolution,  being  cal- 
culated, by  Laplace,  according  to  the  laws  of  probability,  it 
was  found  that  there  is  more  than  2000  to  1  that  this  is  not 
the  effect  of  chance.^ 

2.  That  the  sun,  which  is  the  centre  of  attraction  to  our 
system,  should  be  also  the  grand  centre  of  illumination  and  of 
heat,  cannot,  as  Newton  pointed  out,^  be  shown  to  be  a  neces- 

'  Syst.  vol.  ii.  p.  327. 

2  Letter  I.  to  Bentley ,  Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  430 . 


INORGANIC   NATURE.  101 

sary  arrangement.  There  is  no  apparent  connection  between 
its  mass  and  its  luminousness,  its  central  position  and  its  dif- 
fusion of  heat.  The  direction  of  the  satellites  and  of  their 
primaries  from  west  to  east  is  not  necessary ;  the  satellites  of 
Uranus  move  from  east  to  west.  The  molecular  constitution 
of  matter,  with  all  its  admirable  and  complicated  adaptations 
to  the  economy  of  nature,  is  by  no  means  a  necessary  condi- 
tion of  its  existence.i  Leaving  to  it,  for  example,  hardness, 
and  weight,  and  motion,  we  can  yet  conceive  of  the  laws  of 
these  properties  being  very  different  from  what  they  now  are, 
and  can  specify  some  of  the  consequences  which  would  result 
from  such  difference.^ 

3.  Why  such  and  such  natural  agents  were  originated,  and 
no  others,  "  or  why  they  are  commingled  in  such  and  such  a, 
manner  throughout  space,  is  a  question  we  cannot  answer,"3 
by  any  study  of  the  things  themselves.  As  to  the  precise 
amount  of  matter  which  should  exist,  or  the  space  which  the 
whole  should  occupy  —  what  but  the  Sovereign  will  of  the 
Creator  was  to  determine  ?  In  a  word,  both  the  internal  and 
external  constitution  of  the  material  universe,  the  properties 
of  its  particles,  and  the  distribution  of  its  masses,  the  nature 
of  its  laws  and  the  magnitudes  (sometimes  called  arbitrary) 
which  those  laws  regulate,  were  alike  contingent  on  the  Divine 
appointment.  No  being  existed  to  challenge  His  right.  As 
He  was  the  absolute  originator,  so  He  was  the  sole  Disposer 
of  the  whole. 

4.  Here,  then,  was  scope  for  the  exercise  of  the  same  "  good 
pleasure"  on  which  the  whole  purpose  of  the  Divine  manifes- 
tation had  depended.  And  thus  the  creation,  while  it  presup- 
poses those  necessary  truths  which  are  the  condition  of  its 
existence,  exhibits  the  Creator  meting  out  all  its  internal  ar- 
rangements with  the  line  and  balance  of  His  Sovereign  ap- 
pointment. 

XVI. 

Ultimata.  —  The  mention  of  the  dependence  of  matter  in- 
troduces another  law  —  the  law  of  ultimate  facts. 

1.  By  an  ultimate  fact  is  meant  a  truth,  or  an  event,  not 

^  Prout's  Bridgewater  T.,  c.  iii. 
'  Whewell's  Bridgewater  T.,  b.  ii.  pj).  20,  223. 
3  JMill's  I-ogic,  vol.  i.  p.  417. 
9* 


102  THE    PKE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

derivative  from  anything  of  the  same  kind,  and  whioh,  by 
necessity  of  nature,  admits  of  no  physical  solution.  And  the 
difference  between  necessary  truths  and  ultimate  facts  is,  that 
the  former  exist  independently  of  any  external  manifestation, 
and,  therefore,  antecedently  to  creation  ;  the  latter  are  the  facts 
wliich,  to  our  view,  touch  that  necessary  truth,  or  stand  next 
to  it,  being  immediately  related  to  it,  and  dependent  on  it. 
The  former  is  unconditional ;  the  latter  are  conditional  on  the 
former :  for,  as  we  have  seen  already,  we  cannot  conceive  of 
body  without  space ;  of  succession  or  motion  without  time  ;  nor 
of  either  body  or  motion  without  a  causal  Power.  Space,  is 
the  condition  of  body ;  time,  of  motion ;  while  Power  is  not 
only  the  condition,  but  also  the  cause,  of  both.  And  the  ulti- 
mate truths  belonging  to  this  first  stage  of  creation  respect  the 
relation  of  the  Divine  power  to  matter  as  connected  both  with 
space  and  with  time.     Here  all  objective  mystery  begins. 

2.  In  the  order  of  nature,  matter  is  to  be  viewed,  first,  con- 
temporaneously in  its  relation  to  space  :  —  how  came  it  really 
and  objectively  to  be  ?  what  relation  did  the  Divine  power 
bear  to  its  creation  ?  We  may,  or  may  not,  be  able  to  resolve 
it  all  into  its  primordial  elements  ;  —  but  how  came  these  ele- 
ments themselves  to  exist,  and  what  is  their  nature  ?  Having 
found,  for  instance,  that  a  salt  is  composed  of  an  acid  and  an 
alkali,  and  having  decomposed  the  alkali  into  oxygen  and  a 
metallic  base,  we  seem  to  have  reached  an  impassable  barrier 

—  an  ultimate  fact.  Beyond  these  elements  we  cannot  go. 
They  include  nothing  in  themselves  to  account  for  their  own 
origination.  Could  we  have  looked  on  them  in  the  first  mo- 
ment of  their  existence,  we  should  have  seen  intuitively,  that 
the  only  ground  of  their  existence  must  be  the  will  of  God. 

3.  But  if  the  first  moment  of  the  existence  of  the  material 
universe  would  have  awakened  the  question,  how  comes  it  to 
be  ?  —  the  second  moment  would  have  brought  the  correspond- 
ing question,  how  comes  it  to  continue  in  being  .^  The  first 
moment  revealed  a  creation ;  the  second  moment  revealed  a 
providence,  or  the  causing  of  the  created  material  to  continue. 
If  the  first  exhibited  it  in  relation  to  space,  ars  coexistent,  the 
second  exhibited  it  in  relation  to  time,  as  successively  existent 

—  for  all  its  parts  are  in  motion.  Attraction,  repulsion,  trans- 
formation, change  of  physical  relations,  are  constant  and  uni- 
versal. What  is  the  relation  of  the  Divine  power  to  the  forces 
em})loyed  in  all  this  motion  ?  Here  we  come  to  ultimate  laws. 
When  we  have  traced  back  the  order  in  which  the  sequences 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  103 

in  any  pai'ticular  class  of  natural  plienomeiia  occur,  (ill  ■' c  hase 
reached  the  highest  and  the  last  of  the  series  —  that  vvhicli,  in 
the  order  of  time,  is  presupposed  by  all  the  rest  —  we  have 
reached  our  physical  ultimatum.  And  we  are  conscious  of 
the  instinctive  conviction  that  the  continuance  of  the  world, 
no  less  than  its  origination,  has  its  ground  in  the  will  of  God. 

4.  But  does  the  Divine  will  act  in  this  case  by  a  primary 
appointment  only,  or  does  it  act  also  by  an  ever-present  agency? 
Is  motion  only  the  prolonged  result  of  an  original  impuEe :  ^  or 
is  the  power  which  was  put  forth  in  the  great  original  act, 
directly  operative  still  ?  There  are  those  who  entertain  the 
former  opinion.  And  although  they  may  sometimes  have  been 
charged  with  thus  magnifying  second  causes  to  the  oblivion  of 
the  First  Cause  —  and  often,  it  is  to  be  deplored,  with  justice 
— not  ^  only  is  the  opinion  in  question  not  incompatible  with 
true  piety,  no  doubt  piety  has,  in  some  instances,  erroneously 
led  to  its  adoption.  I  speak  not  now,  of  course,  of  any  theory 
such  as  that  propounded  in  the  "  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory of  Creation ;"  and  which  represents  the  universe  in  its 
present  state  as  the  result  of  a  gradual  unfolding  of  an  orio-i- 
nal  germ,  or  the  natural  development  of  a  principle,  without 
any  subsequent  creative  interposition.  This  is  to  render  crea- 
tion an  independent  existence.  After  the  primary  act,  accord- 
ing to  this  view,  the  Creator  might  have  ceased  to  be  —  as  far 
as  the  created  universe  was  concerned.  Rejoicing  in  its  own 
independence,  it  could  proceed,  ad  etemitatem,  without  Him.i 

5.  Now,  not  only  in  opposition  to  such  a  theory,  but  even  to 
that  qualified  view  which,  while  it  admits  of  creative  interpo- 
sitions, yet  regards  the  sequences  of  nature  as  ascribable  only 
to  the  action  of  matter  upon  matter,  according  to  a  primary 
appointment  ^-  in  opposition  to  such  a  view,  we  regard  these 
sequences  as  owing  to  the  constant  concurrence  of  the  Divine 
will.  We  believe  that  the  same  power  which  originated  mat- 
ter with  all  its  properties,  its  selected  quantities,  and  combina- 
tions, maintains  it  in  operation,  not  indeed  by  separate  acts  of 
power  in  each  particular  case,  but  by  a  constant  regular  voli- 
tion acting  according  to  conditionally  estabhshed  laws.  And 
we  believe  that  this  ever-present  concurrence  of  the  physical 
agency  of  the  Deity  with  material  phenomena  dijQfers,  accord- 


^  And  as  Newton  affirms  in  his  Scholium,  at  the  end  of  the  Principia : 
"Deus  sine  dominio,  providentia,  et  causis,  tinalibus,  nihil  aliud  est  quam 
Fatum  et  Natuka." 


104  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ing  to  the  differing  nature  of  the  properties  and  laws  which 
they  have,  from  the  first,  exhibited. 

6.  "With  any  of  the  moral  objections  which  may  be  supposed 
to  lie  against  this  view,  we  have  not  now  to  do ;  except  to  re- 
mark that  any  hypothesis  which  essays  to  remove  them  from 
pressing  against  Providence,  only  transfers  and  leaves  them  to 
press  equally  against  an  original  creation.  As  to  the  physical 
objections,  it  cannot  be  justly  alleged  that  the  regularity  of  the 
mechanism  of  nature  is  opposed  to  our  view  '^  we  recognise 
that  regularity  as  much  as  the  other  party ;  we  even  rely  on 
it  in  evidence  of  the  truth  of  our  views.  Order  is  natural  to 
Him ;  He  needs  not  to  aim  at  it.  The  only  question  between 
us  is,  does  the  power  which  that  regularity  evinces,  belong,  at 
present,  to  the  machine  or  to  its  Maker  ? 

Nor  does  our  view  affect  the  instrumentality  of  what  is 
properly  meant  by  second  causes.  The  suhordination  of  the 
parts  of  the  great  mechanism,  is  still  supposable  to  any  extent : 
but  their  orderly  operation  is  viewed  as  always  in  dependence 
on  the  continuance  of  the  Divine  will  to  that  effect.  The  se- 
quences of  nature,  however  derivative  and  particular ;  and  the 
laws  of  nature,  however  general ;  are  the  laws  which  He,  in 
His  wisdom,  is  pleased  to  prescribe  to  His  own  Ugency.2 

7.  But,  is  it  worthy  of  God  —  it  is  sometimes  asked  —  to 

^  It  may  be  worth  the  consideration  of  those  who  regard  the  universe 
as  a  self-acting  machine  —  of  which  we  have  no  time  analogy  —  whether 
they  are  not  misled  by  confounding  regularity  with  explanation  —  law  with 
cause  —  a  perceived  uniformity  of  sequence  with  the  manner  or  principle 
of  the  sequence.  "  What  is  called  explaining  one  law  of  nature  by  an- 
other, is  but  substituting  one  mystery  for  another ;  and  does  nothing  to 
render  the  general  course  of  natuz-e  other  than  mysterious :  we  can  no 
more  assign  a  why  for  the  more  extensive  laws  than  for  the  partial  ones. 
The  explanation  may  substitute  a  mystery  which  has  become  familiar, 
and  has  grown  to  seem  not  mysterious,  for  one  which  is  still  strange.    And 

this  is  the  meaning  of  explanation  in  common  parlance The  laws 

thus  explained  or  resolved,  are  sometimes  said  to  be  accounted  for ;  but 
the  expression  is  incoiTCct,  if  taken  to  mean  anything  more  than  what 
has  been  already  stated."  —  MilVs  Logic,  vol.  i.  pp.  559.  560.  Yet  the  or- 
dinary fallacy  is,  that  to  discover  the  law  of  a  sequence  is  to  discover  its 
cause ;  and  that  having  discovered  the  natural  or  proximate  cause,  no 
other  cause  need  be  thought  of ;  that  the  discoverer  has  taken  it  out  of 
the  hand  of  God  and  of  mystery  at  the  same  time ;  whereas,  not  only  is 
the  law  where  it  was  before  in  relation  to  the  Lawgiver,  but  the  mystery 
is  often  numerically  doubled  —  the  discovery  being  the  unveiling  of  a 
new  mystery. 

2  Su-  John  Herschel's  Discourse  on  the  Study  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
p.  37. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  105 

perform  certain  creating  and  sustaining  acts  of  an  inferior  de- 
scription ?  Is  it  not  beneath  tlie  Divine  dignity  ?  Tiius,  the 
author  before  alluded  to,  represents  it  as  "  a  most  inconceiva- 
bly paltry  exercise"^  of  the  power  of  God  to  create  one  of  the 
lower  species.  But,  to  account  for-  the  existence  of  the  said 
species  by  ascribing  it  to  the  evolution  of  a  natural  law,  is 
only  an  adjournment  of  the  difficulty.  For,  unless  it  be  sup- 
posed that  in  originating  that  natural  law,  the  Deity  Avas  put- 
ting a  power  into  operation  of  which  He  knew  not  the  effects, 
the  production  of  that  species  must  have  been  originally  con- 
templated by  Ilim  as  one  of  its  effects ;  so  that  the  charge  of 
paltriness  would  be  only  carried  back  from  the  creation  of  the 
animal,  to  the  prior  origination  of  the  supposed  law  which 
produced  it.~  Besides,  who  shall  undertake  to  graduate  a  scale 
of  great  and  Uttle  things  for  the  Deity  ?  Tliis  is  to  "  antliro- 
jiomorphize"^  God ;  to  assimilate  Him  to  a  poor  earthly  poten- 
tate who  has  to  save  his  artificial  dignity  by  a  constant  com- 
pliance with  etiquette  ;  who  retains  caste  not  so  much  by  doing, 
as  by  not  doing.  In  comparison  with  infinite  greatness,  every- 
tiiing  is  little ;  the  entire  creation  —  not  any  of  its  parts  mere- 
ly —  infinitely  little.  It  is  only  as  those  parts  belong  to  an 
all-comprehendi,ng  plan,  that  their  existence  is  to  be  account- 
ed lor.  Apart  from  that  plan,  the  noblest  parts  of  the  uni 
verse,  and  even  the  universe  as  a  whole,  is  utterly  insignificant. 
But  viewed  as  an  integral  part  of  that  plan,  nothing  is  insigni- 
ficant. It  is  an  all-related  part  of  a  system  which  hallows  all 
which  it  encloses,  and  ennobles  all  that  it  employs. 

8.  The  preceding  objection  belongs  to  an  anthropomorphiz- 
ing view  of  the  Divine  dignity.  There  is  another,  which 
springs  from  a  similar  view  of  the  Divine  ability,  viewed  in 

*  Vestiges,  etc.,  p.  164.     Third  Edit. 

^  So  when  others,  instead  of  dispassionately  arguing  the  question,  aim 
to  stigmatise  the  docti'ine  of  creative  interpositions  by  affirming  that  it 
represents  the  Creator  as  "  mending"  His  own  work,  they  forget  that  the 
atheiyt  may  fasten  the  same  epithet  on  their  own  view  of  the  subject. 
For  if  the  creation  exhibits  change  and  progress,  it  matters  not  to  him 
Avhether  the  change  aud  progress,  (and  this  is  all  that  is  meant  by  the 
"  mending,")  be  said  to  be  effected  by  the  natural  operation  of  a  law 
.originally  appointed  by  the  Creator,  or  by  the  direct  agency  of  the  Law- 
giver ;  whether  it  be  mended,  or  be  self-mending.  "  Why,"  he  will  ask, 
"  should  any  mending,  change,  or  progress  be  necessary  ?  Even  if  it  take 
place  according  to  natural  law,  still,  as  you  profess  to  believe  that  law  to 
have  been  of  Divine  appointment,  you  only  remove  the  diflBiculty  involved, 
from  the  God  of  providence  to  the  God  of  creation." 

^  Vestiges,  etc.,  p.  147. 


106  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

analogy  with  the  powers  of  a  human  artist.  It  expresses  it- 
self thus  —  the  theory  of  God's  perpetual  agency  does  not  ap- 
pear to  afford  such  exalted  views  of  the  Divine  power  and 
skill  as  that  which  represents  him  as  originating  a  law,  or 
creating  a  vast  mechanism,  capable  of  self-activity  and  devel- 
opment, for  as  long  a  period  as  he  might  choose  to  keep  aloof 
from  it.  Hence,  we  are  assured  that  "  it  is  the  narrowest  of 
all  views  of  the  Deity,  and  characteristic  of  a  humble  class  of 
intellects,  to  suppose  him  constantly  acting  in  particular  ways 
for  particular  occasions."^  We  reply,  that  such  a  supposition 
is  a  figment  of  the  author's  own,  if  (as  it  would  appear)  he 
imagines,  that  there  is  no  alternative  between  it  and  liis  own 
theory.  Our  own  view  expressly  provides  against  both.  We 
will  add,  that  to  suppose  the  Deity  not  capable  of  acting  in  the 
manner  described,  if  He  please,  and  of  acting  thus  without 
distraction,  "  is  the  narrowest  of  all  views  respecting  Him, 
and  characteristic  of  a  humble  class  of  intellects."  And  yet 
the^  only  ground  which  is  generally  assigned  for  the  theory 
which  exempts  Him  from  such  action  is  that  of  exonerating 
Omnipotence  from  labor.  Hence,  it  is  thought  to  be  a  very  un- 
fitting "  mode  of  exercise  for  creative  intelligence,  that  it  should 
be  constantly  moving  from  one  sphere  to  another."^  Here  the 
a.nthropomorphism  of  the  reasoning  comes  out.  When  man 
has  constructed  a,  so-called,3  self-acting  machine,  that  which 
constitutes  the  triumph  of  his  powers  is,  that  he  should  have 
so  built  it  as  to  be  himself  left  at  liberty  to  be  absent  from  it, 


'  Vestiges,  etc.,  p.  160.  '^  Ibid.  p.  165. 

*  There  is  an  inconsistency,  "  with  which  all  those  philosophers  are 
justly  chargeable,  Avho  imagine  that,  by  likening  the  universe  to  a  ma- 
chine, they  get  rid  of  the  necessity  of  admitting  the  constant  agency  of 
powers  essentially  different  from  the  known  qualities  of  matter  .... 
The  falseness  of  the  analogy  appears  from  this,  that  the  moving  force  in 
every  machine  is  some  natural  power,  such  as  gravity  or  elasticity :  and. 
consequently,  the  very  idea  of  mechanism  assumes  the  existence  of  those 
active  powers,  of  which  it  is  the  professed  object  of  a  mechanical  theorv 
of  the  universe  to  give  an  explanation."  —  AS^eM;ar<'s  Prel  Diss,  to  the  En. 
Brit.,  p.  125.  Indeed,  the  mechanical  theory  cannot,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  find  any  analogy  in  the  universe.  For  man  originates  no  motion 
whatever.  In  his  most  complicated  machinery,  he  merely  avails  himself 
of  pre-existing  forces  —  properties  which  existed  before  he  came  into 
being.  Now,  the  theory  requires  support  from  some  analogy  to  these 
very  properties  which  it  assumes  to  be  self-sustaining.  But  as  the  sup- 
posed parallelism  of  a  piece  of  human  mechanism  fails,  it  can  nowhere 
be  found.  To  my  own  mind,  the  idea  of  a  created  universe  existing  in 
aUsolute  independence  of  the  Divine  agency,  is  simply  inconceivable. 


TNORGANTC    NATURE  107 

and  to  turn  his  attention  to  other  obji^cts.  He,  a  being  of  limit- 
ed power,  has  constructed  a  machine  which  does  not  limit  or 
detain  that  power,  but  which  acts  independently  of  it.  Where- 
as, in  this  very  particular,  the  analogy  is  totally  inappHcable 
to  the  divine  Creator.  His  presence  with  one  object,  or  in 
one  place,  does  not  imply  his  absence  from  another ;  for  his 
energy  is  omnipresent. 

Besides  which,  is  not  our  admiration,  in  the  case  supposed, 
excited  rather  by  the  wondrous  mechanism  than  by  the  me- 
chanist ?  At  all  events,  would  not  our  estimation  of  his  powers 
be  greatly  enhanced,  if,  after  examining  the  machine  which 
was  supposed  to  work  alone,  we  discovered  that  he,  though 
distant  from  it,  held  secret  lines  of  communication  with  it; 
that  these  lines,  on  which  its  activity  depended,  were  never 
out  of  his  hand,  by  night  or  by  day ;  and  yet  that,  without  any 
apparent  limitation  of  his  powers,  he  was  occupied  in  the  con- 
struction and  movement  of  a  similar  machine  elsewhere.  Won- 
derful as  we  should  deem  the  mechanism,  we  should  regard 
the  mechanist  as  more  wonderful  still.  And  the  very  feeling 
we  are  conscious  of,  of  the  impossibility  of  any  human  power 
being  able  to  accomplish  such  a  thing,  is  so  much  homage  to 
the  Divine  power  which  can  effect  it.  If  the  god  of  Epicurus 
had  made  the  world,  he  would,  doubtless,  have  retired  from 
the  cares  and  painstaking  of  sustaining  and  controlling  it ;  that 
is  to  say,  he  would  have  acted  the  part  of  a  great  human  crea- 
tor. To  be  able,  on  the  contrary,  to  originate  the  universe, 
and  then  to  pervade  it  by  an  ever-present  agency,  unconscious 
of  effort,  is  a  perfection  so  far  beyond  our  ordinary  range  of 
thought,  so  entirely  unique  and  divine,  that  the  mind  does  not 
easily  reach  the  conception. 

9.  If,  however,  it  be  said,  that  the  theory  which  leaves  the 
universe  to  work  entirely  alone,  enhances  our  views  of  the 
skill  of  the  Creator,  much  more  than  that  which  supposes  His 
ever-present  and  all-pervading  agency,  it  seems  sufficient  to 
reply,  first,  that  the  display  of  His  skill  may  not  be  (as  the 
hypothesis  supposes)  the  only,  or  even  the  highest,  end  aimed 
at  in  creation  ;  and  if  it  be  not,  the  remark  loses  its  force.  But, 
secondly,  while  the  skill  of  the  Creator  is  sufficiently  obvious, 
whichever  view  be  taken  of  the  present  subject,  it  is  clear  also 
that  the  Divine  skill  has  been  actually  employed,  not  for  itself, 
but  in  subserviency  to  ulterior  aims.  Who  can  question,  for 
example,  the  ability  of  the  Creator  to  have  complicated  the 
proofs  of  His  skill  in  the  operations  of  nature  much  more  than 


108  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

lie  has  actually  done  ?  or  to  have  brought  the  woi-ld  into  exis- 
tence at  first  in  a  more  advanced  state  than  He  appears  to 
have  done  ?  The  reason  why  He  did  not,  must  then  have  rela- 
ted to  an  end  or  ends,  distinct  from  the  mere  exhibition  of  His 
creative  skill.  And,  thirdly,  we  can  easily  conceive  of  such 
ends,  and  shall  have  hereafter  to  enlarge  on  them  ;  ends  analo- 
gous to  those,  for  example,  attained  by  the  family  constitution, 
in  which  He  has  been  pleased  to  arrange  that  the  children  shall 
not  be  born  into  a  state  of  independence,  (which  they  might 
deem  the  highest  display  of  Divine  skill)  but  that  they  shall 
owe  their  best  advantages  to  the  benevolent  provision  which 
keeps  them  dependent  for  years  on  their  parents. 

10.  We  entertain  the  belief,  then,  of  the  pervading  agency 
of  the  Divine  Being  throughout  the  material  universe,  not  in 
exclusion  of,  but  in  addition  to,  the  doctrine  of  primary 
appointment ;  for  He  does  that  which  He  decrees.  We  believe 
this,  because  there  are  no  valid  objections  to  be  urged  against 
the  view  which  do  not  lie  equally  against  the  theory  of  devel- 
opment by  natural  law ;  because  the  idea  of  an  entirely  self- 
sustaining  universe  is  destitute  of  all  true  analogy  ;  because 
we  cannot  conceive  of  a  self-sustaining  universe,  any  more 
than  we  can  of  a  self-originated  creation  —  dependence  is  its 
characteristic  in  relation  to  time,  as  much  so  as  in  its  relation 
to  space ;  and  because  (if  the  question  is  to  be  argued  on  the 
ground  of  what  may  be  most  honorable  to  the  Divine  perfec- 
tions) we  deem  the  view  which  represents  the  material  uni- 
verse as  directly  dependent  on  the  Divine  agency,  more  exalt- 
ing to  God  than  that  which  views  the  universe  as  released 
from  such  dependence ;  not  to  say  that  the  reasoning  which 
"  compliments  "  Him  out  of  the  material  universe  not  unfre- 
quently  ends  in  excluding  Him  from  the  throne  of  His  moral 
government. 

Other  reasons  in  corroboration  of  this  view  will  come  to 
light  as  we  proceed.  For  the  present,  it  may  suffice  to  suggest 
to  the  believer  in  Divine  revelation,  first,  that  the  opposite 
view,  if  it  does  not  necessarily  deny  the  existence  of  t\\t 
Divine  attributes,  denies,  at  least,  their  objective  exercise  — 
representing  the  Omniscient  as  if  he  saw  nothing,  the  Omni- 
present as  if  he  were  universally  absent,  and  the  Omnipotent  as 
doing  nothing.  And,  secondly,  it  seems  impossible  to  har- 
monize such,  an  abandonment  of  the  universe  to  natural  laws, 
with  the  testimony  of  Scripture,  and  with  the  evidence  of  geol- 
ogy to  successive  creations. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  W3 

11.  If  to  this  it  is  replied  that  the  Divine  Being  is  not  sup- 
posed to  detach  himself  entirely  from  the  universe,  that  he  is 
yet  regarded  as  being  "  virtually  present  in  the  natural  woiid 
by  a  providential  inspection  and  superintendence  "^  of  it,  we 
can  only  add,  that  this  seems  to  fall  very  little,  if  anything, 
short  of  the  ever-present  and  pervading  agency  which  we 
advocate.  At  least,  the  arguments  which  would  establish  such 
a  relation  of  the  Deity  to  the  material  universe,  as  amounts  to 
a  virtual  presence  with  it,  a  constant  i7ispectw?i  and  actual  super- 
intendence of  it,  and  the  necessity  for  such  an  agency,  would  go 
far  to  establish  the  sustaining  and  pervading  nature  of  that 
agency.  And  this,  apparently  near  approach  to  the  admission 
of  such  an  agency,  in  the  very  act  of  denying  it  —  a  not  un- 
frequent  thing  —  only  shows  the  difficulty  of  siying  how  much 
more  or  less  relatively  we  affirm  in  a  proposition  of  our  own, 
unless  we  knew  precisely  how  much  is  denied  in  the  contrary 
position  of  another. 

12.  Before  proceeding  to  the  next  law,  let  me  recall  atten- 
tion to  the  important  distinction  which  has  now  been  disclosed 
to  us,  between  the  relations  of  matter  to  space  and  to  time.  One 
important  distinction  is  disclosed  to  us  under  the  law  relating 
to  necessary  truth  —  the  distinction  between  the  subjective  and 
the  objective ;  the  infinite  mind  and  the  created  universe ;  the 
latter  presupposing  the  former,  having  existed  potentially 
in  the  mind  of  God  before  it  existed  objectively  as  a  purpose 
realized.  Here,  we  are  called  to  regard  the  twofold  relation 
which  He  sustains  to  it  as  it  is  viewed  in  connection  with 
space  and  time.  As  it  is  regarded  contemporaneously,  or  irre- 
spective of  time,  and  in  relation  only  to  space,  He  is  its  crea- 
tor ;  but  as  it  is  viewed  in  relation,  not  only  to  space  but  to 
time,  or  as  successively  existent.  He  is  its  preserver.  Creation 
introduces  us  to  auniverse  of  objects ;  Providence  to  a  uni- 
verse of  objects  and  events.  By  the  first  originating  act, 
matter  was  made  to  take  possession  of  space,  as  an  objective 
reality ;  a  moment  after,  and  it  had  taken  possession  of  time, 
as  objective  and  successive. 

13.  But  if  this  distinction  be  well  founded,  it  follows  that 

the  properties  and  the  distribution  of  matter,  as  constituted  by 

_ 

'  Jones's  Philosophy,  quoted  in  a  note  in  Tateham's  "  Chart  and  Scale 
of  Truth;"  one  of  the  Bampton  Lectures,  vol.  i.  p.  169.  So  also  Boyle, 
while  comparing  the  universe  to  avast  machine,  vet  speaks  of  it  as  "  man- 
aged  by  certain  laws  of  motion,  and  upheld  hij  His  ordinary  and  (jeneral 
concour$ey  —  Inquiry   into  the  Vulgar  Notion   of  Nature. 

10 


110  PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

creation,  are  distinguishable  from  the  laws  of  matter  as  contin- 
ued by  Providence.  The  constitution  of  matter  placed  it  in 
relation  to  space  ;  the  sequences  of  matter,  in  relation  to  time. 
True,  we  may  know  nothing  of  the  properties  but  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  laws  ;  nothing  of  the  constitution  of  matter  as  crea- 
ted, except  as  disclosed  by  the  sequences  of  matter  as  contin- 
ued ;  just  as  the  constitution  of  the  mind  may  be  known  only 
as  manifested  in  its  operations.  But  as  the  laws  or  operations 
of  the  mind  presuppose  its  constitution,  so  the  sequences  of 
matter  presuppose  the  properties  or  constitution  originally 
given  to  it. 

xvn. 

Necessary  truth. —  The  existence  and  motion  of  the  material 
masses  imply  the  existence  of  necessary  truth.  Supposing  that 
we  had  received  and  sustained  the  sublime  and  complicated 
impressions  derivable  from  the  contemplation  of  the  new-made 
universe,  what  would  have  been  the  legitimate  operations  and 
consequent  state  of  our  minds  ? 

^  1.  We  could  not  have  beheld  the  unorganized  masses, 
either  as  coming,  or  as  come,  into  existence,  without  regarding 
the  change  as  an  effect.  Nor  could  we  have  come  into  contact 
with  a  small  portion  of  one  of  these  masses,  and  have  put  it 
into  motion  by  an  act  of  muscular  exertion,  without  regarding 
the  cause  of  all  the  motion  we  saw  around  us  as  something 
more  than  a  mere  antecedent  to  it ;  as  an  efficient  connection 
or  power  —  an  energy  which  has  had  a  real  operation. 

We  could  not  have  contemplated  these  masses  without  per- 
ceiving that  they  were  things  distinct  from  ourselves,  without 
us,  external  to  us :  but,  our  apprehending  them  as  without  us, 
takes  for  granted  their  existence  in  space.  We  could  not,  by 
sight,  and  touch,  and  muscular  extension,  have  ascertained  that 
they  had  figure,  without  perceiving  their  relations  to  space; 
for  the  line  of  one  dimension,  the  plane  of  two,  and  the  solid 
body  of  three  dimensions,  are  all  modifications  of  the  concep- 
tion of  space.  We  could  not  have  thought  of  space  as  the 
negation  of  all  these  things ;  as  existing  only  that  other  things 
may  exist  in  it ;  or  as  a  condition  mthout  which  the  masses 
themselves  could  not  exist ;  without  regarding  it  as  infinite  in 
all  its  dimensions,  and  as  indestructible.  AVe  could  not  have 
ascertained  their  figure,  and  externahty,  and  solidity,  without 
''eeling  that  they  existed  independently  of  us,  so  that  no  act  of 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  Ill 

our  mind  could  make  or  destroy  them.  And  as  we  should  have 
perceived  that  these  properties  and  special  relations  of  the 
masses  depended  not  on  our  perception  of  them,  so  we  should 
have  perceived  that  if  these  things  themselves  had  never  exist- 
ed, the  portions  of  space  which  they  now  occupy,  would  have 
borne  the  same  relations  to  infinite  space  which  the  things 
themselves  actually  do  —  i.  e.,  that  the  two  sides  of  a  triangle 
would  have  been  greater  than  the  third,  even  if  there  had 
never  been  a  material  triangle. 

3.  We  could  not  have  thought  of  the  creation  as  new,  or  in 
connection  with  its  former  non-existence,  or  have  marked  its 
prcgressiveness,  without  being  conscious  of  a  sense  of  success- 
iveness, or  of  time.  Nor  could  we  have  reflected  on  time,  as 
that  in  which  both  our  perceptions  and  their  objects  exist, 
without  feeling  that  time  itself  is  independent  of  both.  The 
first  stage  of  creation,  then,  as  far  as  it  exhibited  the  existence 
of  matter  in  motion,  involved,  at  least,  three  necessary  truths. 
For  we  cannot  conceive  of  succession,  without  time  ;  of  body, 
without  space ;  nor  of  effect,  without  the  power  which  caused 
it  —  i.  e.,  a  Being  or  Substance  potential  to  the  effect  produced. 
Time,  space,  power,  are  necessary  ideas.  All  phenomena  pre- 
suppose them ;  are  not  intelligible  without  them.  They  them- 
selves cannot  be  resolved  into  anything  antecedent ;  have  no 
conceivable  conditions ;  but  exist  independently,  and  as  the 
conditions  of  everything  else. 

4.  Here,  an  important  distinction  comes  to  light.  While 
space  is  only  the  condition  of  body,  and  time  of  motion,  'power ^ 
as  we  have  implied,  is  not  only  the  condition,  hut  the  cause  of 
both.  As  condition,  it  could  not  but  be  ;  as  cause,  its  existence 
was  contingent  on  the  Divine  will.  As  condition,  it  was  from 
eternity ;  as  cause,  it  commenced  the  succession  of  measurable 
time.  As  condition,  it  is  a  property  of  the  infinite  Substance  — 
an  attribute  of  the  Divine  Nature  ;  as  cause,  it  is  the  objective 
manifestation  of  that  property,  the  creating  exercise  of  that 
attribute.  As  condition,  its  activity  from  eternity  was  only 
subjective ;  as  cause,  its  activity  becomes  objective  also.  Here, 
then,  we  have  the  subjective  and  the  objective  ;  for  that  which 
was  possible  has  become  real.  What  must  that  be,  to  which 
the  real  has  always  been  possible  ?  and  what  is  that  which, 
having  been  only  possible,  has  now  become  real  ?  What  are 
the  relations  between  the  two  ?  or,  how  do  they  co-exist  ?  This 
is  the  domain  of  ontology  —  the  doctrine  which  relates  to  the 
Substance  of  beino;. 


112  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 


xvin. 


Secular  CJiange.  —  But  will  this  stage  of  the  Divine  opera- 
tions he  sooner  or  later  succeeded  hy  another  ?  For,  according 
to  one  of  our  principles,  the  production  of  new  effects,  or  the 
introduction  of  new  laws,  will  be  itself  a  law  of  the  manifesta- 
tion. For,  were  it  to  terminate  at  any  given  point,  the  proof 
of  the  Divine  all-sufficiency  for  unlimited  manifestation  would 
terminate  with  it.  Besides  which,  all-sufficiency,  from  its 
very  nature,  requires  infinity  and  eternity  in  which  to  be  de- 
veloped ;  for  it  implies  sufficiency  for  nothing  less  than  these. 
If,  then,  the  development  of  the  Great  Purpose  be  in  its  very 
nature  progressive,  this  is  only  saying  that  the  process  must 
ever  be  kept  open  to  receive  the  addition  of  new  effects,  or  the 
superinduction  of  new  laws. 

1.  Now,  however,  a  new  —  an  analogical  ground  for  expect- 
ing an  additional  stage  in  the  Divine  operations  has  come  to 
light.  For,  as  we  have  seen,  the  activity  of  the  primitive  ma- 
terial universe  has  itself  been  the  activity  o^ progression.  Nor 
can  we  imagine  ourselves  surveying  this  activity  of  progres- 
sion, without  more  than  suspecting  that  we  are  looking  on  the 
successive  steps  of  a  scene  preparatory  for  a  new  stage  of  the 
Divine  Plan.  All  that  we  behold  —  complicated  and  stupen- 
dous as  it  is — is  only  the  play  of  inorganic  matter,  unconscious 
of  its  own  existence  and  activity.  The  Divine  Purpose  and 
the  Divine  procedure  alike  combine  to  point  us  to  the  future. 

2.  The  preceding  section  reminds  us  of  the  great  principle 
that  the  law  of  ever-enlarging  manifestation  to  which  it  relates 
is  itself  regulated  hy  a  laiv  determining  the  time  and  manner 
of  each  successive  stage  of  the  advancing  process.  In  the  origi- 
nal sta,tement  of  this  law,  I  remarked,  that  the  time  for  this 
change  in  any  given  department  of  the  Divine  Manifestation, 
will  of  course  be  determined  in  a  maimer,  and  for  a  reason, 
differing  with  the  particular  nature  and  design  of  the  depart- 
ment :  —  first,  by  each  existing  stage  passing  through  all  the 
combinations  and  changes  of  which  it  admits,  before  another 
begins ;  or,  secondly,  by  its  existing  long  enough  to  show  that 
it  involves  all  the  necessary  possibilities  for  answering  such 
and  such  ends,  if  its  continuance  were  permitted ;  or,  thirdly, 
until  it  has  sufficiently  taught  the  specific  truth,  and  attained 
the  proximate  and  particular  end,  for  which  it  was  originated. 

But,  whatever  the  particular  reason  for  determining  the  pe- 
riod of  change  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  law  of  the  time 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  113 

and  the  occasion  for  every  change  must  harmonize  with  the 
Great  End  of  the  whole  —  the  manifestation  of  tlie  Divine  All- 
sufficiency.  For,  were  a  stage  of  the  manifestation  to  be  re- 
called or  replaced  a  moment  before  it  had,  in  some  loay,  de- 
monstrated the  all-sufficiency  of  God  for  that  particular  stage, 
the  Great  Purpose  would  not  be  answered. 

From  which  it  follows  that  no  such  change  or  interposition 
takes  place  arbitrarily,  but,  as  the  laws  of  progression,  and  of 
the  end,  require  it. 

And  that  the  length  of  ^he  time  wdiich  may  be  allowed  to 
elapse,  after  the  introduction  of  one  law  or  change,  before  the 
introduction  of  another,  so  far  from  growing  into  an  objection 
against  any  further  addition  or  change,  becomes,  in  a  progres- 
sive system,  an  ever-increasing  ground  for  expecting  it. 

3.  Even  those  who  advocate  the  natural-development  hy- 
pothesis, cannot  consistently  entertain  any  valid  objection 
against  this  law.  For,  even  if  the  great  changes  which  have 
marked  the  progress  of  the  material  universe  have  been,  as 
they  imagine,  only  the  development  of  a  law,  or  laws,  origi- 
nally impressed  on  matter,  all  these  changes  must  have  been 
foreseen — must  have  been  actually  included  in  the  plan  of  the 
glorious  Deity.  But  if  their  occurrence  was  designed,  for  the 
same  reason  that  they  were  designed  to  occur  at  all,  there 
must  have  been  a  right  time  for  their  occurrence.  And  this 
13  the  substance  of  the  law^  now  under  consideration. 

4.  What  was  it,  then,  which  made  the  time  thus  divinely 
selected,  the  appropriate  time  for  a  distinct  advance  in  the 
great  process  ?  We  have  said  that  '^  no  such  change  takes 
place  arbitrarily  ;  but,  as  the  laws  of  progression  and  of  the 
end  require  it."     Here,  then,  is  a  two-fold  law  to  be  satisfied: 

Now,  the  requirement  of  the  law  of  progression,  in  the  pre- 
sent instance,  is  obvious  ;  —  the  event  declared  it.  The  inor- 
ganic world  was  designed  by  the  Divine  Creator  to  become 
tiie  scene  of  organic  forms  —  of  life.  When,  therefore,  the 
earth  had  passed  through  such  foreseen  changes,  and  -  had  at- 
tained to  such  a  condition,  as  adapted  it  to  the  existence  of  or- 
ganic life,  the  law  of  progression  might  be  expected,  in  har- 
mony with  the  Divine  Plan,  to  receive  a  new  illustration. 
"  The  proximate  end  of  the  origination  of  this  earth  had  been 
attained."  It  was  in  a  state  to  become  the  means  for  the  at- 
tainment of  another  particular  end,  if  the  Divine  Creator 
chose  so  to  employ  it. 

i).  But  is  tills  the  apDropriate  time  for  the  change,  accord- 
10* 


114  THE    FRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

ing  to  the  law  of  the  end  ?  That  is  to  say,  aditiitting  that  thi 
design  of  the  creation  and  maintenance  of  the  material  uni- 
verse is  to  manifest  the  Divine  Omnipotence,  is  that  ultimate 
end,  in  any  sense,  attained  ?  Evidently,  the  first  of  the  condi- 
tions of  its  attainment,  v.hich  I  have  specified,  is  not  fulfilled  ; 
—  inorganic  matter  has  not  "  passed  through  all  the  combina- 
tions and  changes  of  which  it  admits."  Vast  and  complicated 
as  they  have  been,  they  are  still  in  progress.  And  as  long  as 
the  earth  continues,  these  changes  will  go  on  multiplying. 
And  who  shall  say  whether,  before  the  material  system  reaches 
a  close,  it  will  not  have  passed  through  all  the  great  changes 
and  combinations  of  which  it  admits  ?  If,  as  the  existence  of 
a  resisting  medium  implies,  the  period  will  come — immeasura- 
bly distant  in  the  depths  of  futurity  as  it  may  be  —  when  the 
planetary  system,  in  its  present  form,  will  come  to  an  end, 
who  shall  say  that  by  that  inconceivably  remote  period,  the  con- 
dition in  question  may  not  be  literally  fulfilled  ?  Possibly,  the 
limit  of  planetary  existence,  and  the  fulfilment  of  this  condition 
are  destined  to  coincide.  The  proof  of  the  Divine  All-suffi- 
ciency, for  upholding  the  worlds  Avhich  He  had  made,  through 
all  the  great  combinations  and  changes  of  which  they  severally 
admitted,  would  then  be  historically  worked  out  and  completed. 
Possibly,  too,  this  awful  crisis  of  the  material  system  will  ar- 
rive, only  to  be  followed  by  its  reconstruction  in  other  forms, 
and  for  other  ends,  and  for  other  immeasurable  cycles.  Solemn 
as  these  conceptions  are,  doubtless,  something  analogous,  and 
as  solemn,  awaits  our  contemplation  in  relation  to  the  material 
system,  in  the  distant  future. 

6.  But  if  the  first  of  the  conditions  specified  had  not, — and, 
from  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Plan,  could  not  have  been  com- 
plied with,  at  the  time  of  the  change,  had  the  second  condition 
been  fulfilled  ?  That  is,  were  the  creation  of  the  inorganic 
universe,  and  the  mighty  changes  which  it  had  passed  through, 
taken  in  connection  too  with  the  changes  which  it  was  yet  to 
be  conducted  through  prior  to  the  arrival  of  man,  sufficient  to 
warrant  the  inference  of  the  omnipotence  of  the"  Divine  Crea- 
tor ?  Let  it  be  observed  that  the  question  is  not  whether  Om- 
ni})otence  had  demonstrated  its  existence  by  doing  all  that  it 
could  do  ;  by  exhausting  itself,  so  to  speak,  in  its  acts  of  physi- 
cal creation.  Yet  this  is  the  kind  of  evidence  of  the  Divine 
Power  which  many  persons  inconsiderately  suppose  them- 
selves entitled  to  look  for.  Whereas  the  existence  of  such 
evidence  is  not  only  inconceivable  in  itself,  but,  as  we  have  be- 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  115 

fore  shown,  would,  if  it  were  possible  for  it  to  be  realized, 
'defeat  the  very  end  of  its  existence.  For,  the  attainment  of 
that  end — the  display  of  omnipotence  in  the  eyes  of  linite  in- 
telligence—requires that  the  display  be  progressive;  that  it 
include  displays  of  power  other  than  the  creation  of  mere  in- 
organic matter,  and  additional  to  it ;  —  this  is  implied  in  ttie 
supposed  existence  of  the  finite  intelligences  themselves ;  and 
that  it  include  power  equal  to  every  crisis  that  may  occur  in 
in  the  system  created — otherwise  it  would  be  objected  that 
proof  of  all-sufiiciency  was  w^inting  in  a  most  vital  point. 
Accordingly,  the  manifestation  of  the  Divine  Power  is  still  in 
progress  ;  Power,  not  for  the  production  of  physical  effects 
only,  but  for  the  attainment  of  other  and  higher  ends.  The 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  Wisdom,  or  Goodness,  does  not 
terminate  that  of  Power  ;  they  co-exist  and  co-operate  to- 
gether. The  question  is,  therefore,  w^hether  the  creation  of 
the  material  system,  and  the  series  of  changes  in  it  which  we 
have  referred  to,  furnish  an  adequate  illustration,  of  the  kind, 
of  the  Divine  omnipotence. 

7.  That  the  power  of  God  had  demonstrated  its  sufficiency 
for  the  production  of  certain  effects  is  evident ;  for  these  ef- 
fects had  taken  place.  But  had  all  the  effects  taken  place, 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  might  have  been  expected  ? 
Novel  as  this  question  may  be,  and  unanswerable,  in  a  defi- 
nite and  categorical  respect,  as  it  must  be,  it  appears  to  me 
that  it  involves  that  proof  of  all-sufiaciency  of  which  w^e  speak, 
and  that  an  approximation  to  a  satisfactory  reply  is  by  no 
means  impossible.  In  order,  indeed,  to  a  reply  arithmetically 
accurate,  it  would  be  requisite — in  reference  to  the  earth,  for 
example  —  to  know  (setting  aside  the  power  necessary  for  the 
origination  of  its  material)  how^  many  changes  that  material 
could  pass  through,  and  the  length  of  time  necessary  for  the 
process.  That  is,  w^e  must  know  the  number  of  the  simple 
substances  of  which  it  is  composed ;  the  properties  of  each  sub- 
stance— its  density,  gravity,  cohesion,  elasticity,  its  relations  to 
heat,  electricity,  and  magnetism,  together  with  all  its  chemical 
affinities ;  and  the  definite  amount  of  each  substance  included 
in  its  constitution.  With  these  data  in  our  possession,  we 
must  determine  the  number  of  terrestrial  changes  possible ; 
and  then,  having  ascertained  the  lapse  of  time  from  the  Great 
Originating  Act  to  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  and  the  num- 
ber of  the  terrestrial  changes  during  the  interval,  we  should 
l)e  in  a  condition  to  furnish  an  answer  to  the  (juesiion  pro- 
rosed. 


116  THE    PRE-AHAMITE    EARTH. 

8.  Now,  although  such  a  reply,  with  our  present  limited 
means  and  powers,  is  not  attainable,  an  approximation  to  the* 
truth,  sufficiently  near,  is  not  impossible.  If  it  should  appear, 
for  exam])le,  that,  of  tlie  number  of  terrestrial  changes  possi- 
ble, a  vast  variety  had  taken  place  prior  to  the  production  of 
organic  forms,  and  between  that  period  again  and  the  creation 
of  man ;  that  the  number  of  inorganic  changes  which  have 
since  occurred,  are  as  nothing  in  the  comparison  ;  and  that  the 
degree  of  all  subsequent  changes  is  as  insignificant  as  the  num- 
ber ;  we  may  safely  infer  in  favor  of  the  affirmative  of  our 
question.  If  it  should  appear  probable  that  the  number  and 
variety  of  our  terrestrial  changes  are  only  a  specimen  of  simi- 
lar changes  through  which  worlds  and  systems,  beyond  our 
powers  of  calculation,  have  been  variously  conducted  from  the 
beginning,  the  athrmative  reply  will  be  still  further  warranted. 
And  if  it  should  be  made  probable  that  cosmical  changes,  in 
every  stage  of  revolution,  and  on  a  scale  beyond  our  powers 
of  conception,  are  still  in  process  —  what  more  could  be  desired 
to  complete  our  conviction  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  Divine 
Power  for  the  number  of  the  physical  changes  in  question  ? 

9.  That  evidence  of  the  truth  of  these  suppositions  exists  in 
abundance  will,  doubtless,  be  freely  admitted.  Astronomy  as- 
sures us  of  vast  nebulous  objects,  exhibiting  '•  no  regularity  of 
outline,  no  systematic  gradation  of  brightness,"  and  suggesting 
the  idea  that  they  arc  awaiting  the  slow  process  of  aggregation 
into  masses  ;  as  if  on  purpose  to  show  the  all-sufficiency  of  the 
Creator.  The  regions  of  space  are  inhabited  by  countless 
worlds  and  systems ;  exhibiting  indications  of  an  endless  va- 
riety of  color,  density,  magnitude,  motion,  relative  positio3i 
and  mutual  dependence,  as  If  for  tlie  sake  of  showing  the 
boundless  resources  of  the  Divine  Pov/er.  Proofs  of  geologi- 
cal revolutions,  in  number  not  yet  ascertained,  if  at  all  ascer- 
tainable, and  in  degree  beyond  all  computation,  are  placed  by 
the  hand  of  God  within  the  crust  of  the  earth,  as  if  in  order 
to  challenge  our  unquestioning  faith  in  his  all-sufliciency. 
Traces  ofa  long  and  bewildering  succession  of  changes,  to  the 
number,  variety,  and  extent  of  which  the  imagination  has 
never  yet  done  justice,  are  there  stored  up,  as  if  expressly 
that  man  might  see  and  believe.  The  amount  of  evidence  of 
the  Divine  sufficiency  for  all  the  terrestrial  changes  which 
might  have  been  expected,  is  not  merely  adequate  for  convic- 
tion. For  such  a  purpose,  it  exists  in  excess.  It  carries  the 
mind  into  the  future;  awakening  the  idea  that  it  is  the  design 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  117 

of  Omnipotence  to  conduct  the  eartli,  the  material  universe, 
through  all  the  changes  of  which  it  admits  ;  to  occupy  s})ace 
without  limit  in  unfolding  the  universe  of  matter,  and  duration 
without  end  in  unfolding  its  properties  by  a  succession  of  ever- 
varying  change ;  and  thus  to  display  the  sufficiency  of  His 
own  power  as  the  Originator  and  Sustainer  of  the  whole. 

10.  The  second  condition  of  the  law  now  under  considera- 
tion, then,  had  been  satisfied  —  the  earth  had  existed  long 
enough  to  justify  the  inference  that  the  power  which  had 
shown  itself  sufficient  for  conducting  it  through  all  the  changes 
of  which  it  exhibits  the  evidence,  is  all-sufficient  for  every 
change  of  which  the  earth  admits.  Had  the  evidence  of  this 
truth  been  incomplete,  when,  according  to  the  law  of  progres- 
sion, the  earth  had  become  adapted  to  human  life,  I  believe 
that  the  law  of  progression  would  have  waited  for  the  comple- 
tion. Hazardous  as  this  sentiment  may  appear,  it  is  only  af- 
firming that  the  means  would  have  been  subordinated  to  the 
end;  that  one  proximate  end  could  not  be  sacrificed  to  another, 
without  losing  sight  of  the  great  and  ultimate  end.  But,  when 
it  is  remembered  that  we  are  speaking  of  the  procedure  of 
*  God  only  wise,'  all  appearance  of  hazard  vanishes ;  for  "  see- 
ing the  end  from  the  beginning,"  He  makes  all  his  operations 
harmoniously  coincide,  rendering  the  attainment  of  one  part  of 
his  design  'the  fulness  of  time'  for  commencing  the  attainment 
of  another. 

XIX. 

Reason  of  the  Method. — All  the  preceding  laws  relate,  as  I 
conceive,  to  the  method  of  the  Divine  procedure.  And,  as  far 
as  we  have  gone,  we  have  seen  their  apphcation  to  the  first 
department  of  that  procedure  —  the  inorganic  universe. 

The  Reason  for  this  method  remains  to  be  considered.  It 
will  be  found,  I  submit,  to  be  twofold.  The  first  part  is  found- 
ed in  the  constitution  of  the  beings  by  whom  the  method  is  to 
be  studied,  and  involves  the  well-being  of  the  creature ;  the 
second  is  founded  in  the  destiny  of  the  creature,  and  involves, 
in  addition,  the  ultimate  end  of  the  whole  —  the  glory  of  God. 
The  reason  relates,  therefore,  to  the  law,  that  the  beings  to 
whom  the  manifestation  is  to  be  made,  and  by'  whom  it  is  to  bo 
underslwd,  appreciated,  and  voluntarily  promoted,  must  be  con- 
stituted in  harmony  with  these  laws  ;  or,  these  laws  <f  the  objec- 
tive xmiversi  will  he  found  to  have  been  established  in  j^rospective 


118  THE   PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

harmony  with  the  designed  constitution,  and  the  destiny  of  the 
subjective  mind  which  is  to  expound  and  to  profit  by  them.  My 
remarks  on  the  apparent  reason  for  the  Divine  method  must 
be,  for  the  present,  comparatively  brief;  on  the  obvious  ground 
that  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  human  dispensation,  or  exam- 
ined the  constitution  of  man,  and  that,  consequently,  all  we  may 
now  advance  anticipates  our  consideration  of  that  subject,  or 
presupposes  the  knowledge  of  it. 

1.  Were  it  proper  to  enlarge  on  the  law  which  I  have  just 
quoted,  it  would  be  easy  and  interesting  to  trace  the  harmony 
and  coincidence  of  the  constitution  of  the  material  universe 
with  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind.  For  the  present, 
however,  it  will  suffice  to  remark  generally,  first,  that  if  the 
organic  universe  is  to  be  understood  by  man,  and  to  prove  con- 
ducive to  his  well-being,  it  must  be  constructed  according  to  a 
plan.  Here  we  perceive,  at  a  glance,  a  reason  for  that  law  of 
uniformity,  without  which  man  would  possess  his  powers  of 
observation  in  vain,  and  creation  would  be  only  and  truly  '  a 
fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms  :'  —  and  for  that  law  of  all-con 
necting  relationship,  without  which  induction  would  be  impos 
sible,  and  inquiry  would  be  constantly  baffled  and  brought  tc 
a  pause,  but  owing  to  which  man  is  ever  ascending  to  liighei 
and  wider  generalizations,  and  an  endless  multitude  of  parts 
become  a  united  whole  :  —  and  for  that  law  of  analogy,  without 
which  he  could  not  take  even  a  first  inductive  step,  for  nature 
would  furnish  him  with  no  hint  respecting  the  direction  in 
which  he  should  proceed ;  but  by  which  he  now  possesses  a 
clue  for  threading  its  most  intricate  labyrinths,  and  finds  him- 
self satisfactorily  rising  from  physical  science  to  natural  theol- 
ogy, and  thence  to  the  domain  of  Revelation. 

Without  the  laws  in  question,  observation,  experience,  sci- 
ence, life  itself,  would  be  impossible.  But,  with  them,  matter 
becomes  the  educator  of  mind ;  aids  in  revealing  it  to  itself,  and 
in  preparing  it  for  higher  revelations.  While  these  lav/s  are 
not  so  obscure  as  to  defy  his  diligence,  they  are  not  so  obvious 
as  to  force  themselves  on  his  involuntary  notice.  If  he  will, 
he  can  extract  their  secrets,  and  incorporate  them  as  oi-ganic 
parts  of  his  systematized  knowledge.  In  the  midst  of  an  un- 
known multitude  of  v/orlds,  man  feels  himself  at  home ;  since 
"  the  stars  in  their  courses  "  are  obedient  to  law.  And  when 
geology  has  led  him  back  through  an  unknown  succession  of 
ages,  he  feels  that  he  is  only  travelling  through  the  ancient 
monuments  of  the  same  law,  in  tlie  direction  of  the  Divine 
Lciririlator  himself. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  119 

2.  And,  secondly,  if  the  inorganic  uni\erse  is  to  be  under- 
stood by  man  so  as  to  answer  the  ultimate  end,  it  must  be  con- 
structed in  a  manner  calculated  to  refer  him  to  an  Almighty 
origin.  Here,  again,  if  we  were  not  presupposing  the  knowl- 
edge of  man's  mental  and  moral  constitution,  we  might  en- 
large on  tha  laws  of  ultimate  facts,  and  of  necessary  truth, 
as  pointing  directly  to  such  an  origin.  For  the  present,  how- 
ever, we  shall  limit  ourselves  to  a  remark  on  the  single  law, 
that  the  constitution  of  the  material  universe  may  be  expected 
to  be  found  contingent,  or  resolvable  into  the  sovereign  will  of 
the  Divine  Creator. 

If  the  inorganic  universe  did  not  exhibit  marks  of  contin- 
gent arrangement,  and  if  man  had  not  the  power  of  interpret- 
ing them  aright,  it  would  not  be  tht  means  of  the  Divine  man- 
ifestation, but  would  only  manifest  itself — disclose  its  own 
properties  —  proclaim  its  own  nature.  Instead  of  referring 
the  human  mind  to  God,  it  would  literally  stand  between  man 
and  its  Creator,  and  would  tend  to  enclose  man  in  its  own  ma- 
terial mechanism.'  But  we  have  seen  that  it  does  exhibit  the 
expected  signs  of  contingency.  Its  properties  appear  to  be 
selected,  and  its  relations  to  be  instituted.  Properties  of  sou'.e 
kind  it  must  have,  nor  can  v/e  conceive  it  to  be  destitute  of 
every  kind  of  relation ;  but  it  cannot  be  shown  that  the  actujd 
properties  were  absolutely  necessary,  nor  that  the  actual  rela- 
tions might  not  have  been  modilied  without  end.  On  the  con- 
trary, choice,  adaptation,  and  adjustment,  are  everywhere  vlsihlo; 
and  the  mere  facts  that  matter,  though  not  capable  of  its  own 
creation,  should  yet  be  found  in  existence  ;  and  though  uncon- 
scious, should  yet  exhibit  a  scientifically  arranged  constitution, 
sufficiently  point  to  the  Divinity  of  its  origin. 

3.  Here,  then,  we  see  the  twofold  reason  for  the  chosen 
method  of  the  Divine  manifestation.  Let  the  evidence  that 
the  power  displayed  in  the  material  universe  is  His  power  sink 
below  a  certain  degree,  and  man  will  be  excusable  for  "  wor- 
shipping the  creature  rather  than  the  Creator."  Let  the  evi- 
dence rise  beyond  a  certain  degree,  and  conviction  will  not 
be  optional,  nor  voluntary  adoration  possible.  The  Divine 
method  provides  against  each  dangej'.     If  man  will,  he  may 

'  Design  implies  freedom  of  choice ;  natural  law  means,  as  employed 
by  matei'ialists,  a  necessity.  The  feet  of  design  may  be  inferred  from 
any  degree  of  regularity,  however  imperfect,  which  cannot  rensonably  bo 
ascribed  to  chance.  The  establishment  of  a  single  ejcception  is  fatal  to 
the  hypothesis  of  a  natural  or  necessary  law. 


120  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

make  that  uniformity  of  naturp,  without  which  there  would  be 
no  evidence  of  the  Divine  power,  the  very  occasion  of  forget- 
ting and  denying  such  power ;  or,  if  he  will,  he  may  make  it 
the°occasion  of  ascending  to  the  proofs  of  that  contingency  and 
appointment  on  which  the  uniformity  itself  depends.  The 
constitution  of  the  material  system  told  of  an  Almighty  maker, 
in  a  way  which  foretold  a  race  of  intelligent  and  accountable 
creatures. 

XX. 

The  ultimate  Bnd. — We  are  led  to  expect  that  both  the  Imvs 
of  the  method,  and  the  reason  of  it,  will  find  their  ultimate  end, 
in  relation  to  this  stage  of  the  Divine  Procedure,  in  contrihut- 
ing  to  prove  the  all-sufficiency  of  the  power  of  God. 

1.  In  our  remarks  on  this  subject,  under  the  first  law,  we 
have  stated  distinctly  that  we  do  not  claim  for  this  opening 
stage  a  display  of  power  exclusively,  but  preeminently.  God 
himself  is  often  found,  in  His  word,  appealing  to  the  creation 
of  the  material  system,  as  his  own  chosen  proof  of  power. 
We  remarked  also  that  we  were  not  then  about  to  infer  the 
extent  of  the  power  displayed  in  the  material  creation,  whether 
it  be  limited  or  unlimited.  Nor  do  we  now  say  that  this  open- 
ing stage  mathematically  demonstrates  the  absolute  infinity  of 
the  Divine  power.  If  it  did  so,  all  the  illustrations  of  power 
derivable  from  the  subsequent  stages  of  the  Divine  Procedure, 
would,  as  further  evidence,  be  superfluous ;  for  the  proofs  have 
been  accumulating  ever  since,  whereas  we  are  only  as  yet 
dealing,  by  supposition,  with  the  opening  proof.  And,  we  con- 
ceive, that  as  the  metaphysically  adequate  proof  of  infinite 
power  must  itself  be  infinite,  the  only  possible  manner  in  which 
•t  can  be  furnished  to  finite  beings,  is  by  a  progressive  accu- 
mulation through  infinite  duration ;  and  therefore  can  only  be 
always  in  process.  But  we  can  conceive,  also,  of  such  a  dis- 
play of  power  within  a  space  and  a  time  not  absolutely  unlim- 
ited, as  should  furnish  beings  capable  of  reasoning  from  anal- 
ogy, with  ample,  superabundant  evidence  of  power  unlimited. 
Such  exercise  of  power  we  believe  to  have  been  displayed 
in  the  primary  stage  of  creation. 

2.  Now,  in  order  to  fill  our  imagination  for  awhile  with  this 
illustration  of  the  Divine  Power,  let  us  glance  at  the  nature 
and  magnitude  of  the  vast  system  to  which  the  earth  belongs. 
And  the  point  from  which  we  might  most  advantageously  stai't 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  121 

would  be  an  elementary  atom.  But  vrhere  shall  it  be  found? 
Animalcules  —  organized  beings  possessing  life  and  all  its  es- 
sential functions  —  are  in  some  cases  so  minute  that  a  million 
of  them  would  occupy  less  than  a  grain  of  sand.  A  grain  of 
musk  will  continue  to  yield  odour,  to  throw  off  an  incalculable 
number  of  particles  of  matter,  for  twenty  years,  without  any 
sensible  diminution  of  its  weight.  Yet,  on  apparently  conclu- 
sive grounds,  it  may  be  inferred  that  matter  is  not  infinitely 
divisible.  For  the  present,  however,  science  must  be  content 
with  an  inference. 

But  it  matters  little  that  we  cannot  begin  with  a  strictly  in- 
divisible atom  ;  since,  even  if  we  could,  the  combination  of  as 
many  of  these  as  go  to  form  a  microscopic  insect  might  baffle 
all  our  powers  of  arithmetic.  Let  us  begin  with  one  of  these 
living  atoms ;  and,  remembering  that  every  particle  of  which 
it  is  composed  is  a  production  of  Almighty  power,  and  that  a 
million  of  these  will  only  equal  the  size  of  a  grain  of  sand, — 
according  to  Ehrenberg,  a  cubic  inch  of  the  tripoli  of  Bilin 
contains  40,000  millions  of  the  siliceous  coverings  of  the  Gali- 
onelliB,  —  let  us  try  to  conjecture  how  many  of  these  grains 
would  equal  a  cubical  mile  of  rock ;  and  then  recollect,  that  to 
equal  the  size  of  the  earth  we  must  accumulate  263,858,149, 
120  such  masses. 

3.  Immense  as  this  aggregate  of  matter  is,  when  compared 
with  the  entire  solar  system  it  dwindles  to  a  point.  The  mass 
of  the  sun  itself  is  354,936  times  that  of  the  earth,  so  that  were 
its  centre  brought  to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  it  would  not  only 
fill  up  the  orbit  of  the  moon,  but  would  extend  nearly  as  far 
again.  But  this  is  nothing  compared  with  the  mass  of  some 
of  the  stars.  Who  can  conjecture  the  magnitude  of  a  body 
which  would  fill  the  vast  orbit  of  the  earth !  But,  though  our 
mean  distance  from  the  sun  is  ninety-five  milhons  of  miles,  and 
that  of  Uranus  about  nineteen  times  greater,  or  1,800,000,000 
miles,  the  bright  star  in  Lyra  has  a  diameter  which,  it  has 
been  said,  would  nearly  fill  even  that  orbit. 

Among  the  planetary  nebulae  there  are  masses  so  enormous, 
that,  according  to  the  computation  of  Sir  John  Herschel,  if 
they  are  as  far  from  us  as  the  stars,  their  real  magnitude,  on 
the  lowest  estimation,  must  be  such  as  would  fill  the  orbit  of 
Uranus ;  while  among  the  nebulous  stars  there  are  some  of 
dimensions  so  vast  —  not  improbably  systems  of  stars  —  that 
were  ont>  of  them  in  the  place  of  the  sun,  its  atmosphere  would 


122  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

not  merely  include  the  orbit  of  Uranus,  but  would  extend  eigbl 
times  beyond  it. 

4.  In  the  presence  of  such  masses,  indeed,  the  moon,  the 
earth  itself,  may  be  omitted  as  an  inappreciable  quantity,  and 
the  space  occupied  by  our  system  be  passed  by  as  an  unassign- 
able point.  But  the  estimate  is  hardly  yet  begun  The  milky 
way  derives  its  brightness  from  the  diffused  light  of  bodies 
each  of  which  may  be  equal  to  that  of  Lyra,  and  of  which 
50,000  passed  through  the  field  of  Sir  W.  Herschel's  telescope 
in  an  hour :  2500  nebuloe,  and  clusters  of  stars,  have  been  ob- 
served by  Sir  John  Herschel ;  and  an  unknown  number  more 
remain  to  be  observed.  Li  some  of  those  which  he  has  ex- 
amined, "  ten  or  twenty  thousand  stars  appear  compacted  or 
wedged  together  in  a  space  not  larger  than  a  tenth  part  of 
that  covered  by  the  moon,  and  presenting  in  its  centre  one 
blaze  of  light."  The  number  of  the  distinguishable  telescopic 
stars  of  the  milky  way  has  been  estimated  at  eighteen  millions. 
But  beyond  the  milky  way  of  stars,  and  almost  at  right  angles 
with  it,  there  is  a  milky  way  of  nebuke.  A  nearer  approach 
might  resolve  these  into  clustered  myriads  of  stars,  and  reveal 
another  milky  way  beyond. 

5.  Let  us  try  to  imagine  the  distance  of  one  of  the  star- 
clusters  in  the  nearer  milky  way.  The  earth,  we  have  said,  is 
ninety-five  millions  of  miles  from  the  sun.  Uranus  is  nineteen 
times  further.  The  great  comet  of  1680  recedes  about  forty 
times  farther  than  Uranus,  or  about  twenty  times  beyond  the 
orbit  of  Neptune;  and  requires,  according  to  Encke,  8,800 
years  for  its  revolution.  The  nearest  fixed  star  is  supposed  to 
be  250  times  farther  from  the  sun  than  this  comet  at  its  great- 
est distance,  while  the  star  <?  Centauri  is  11,000  times,  the  star 
61  Cygni  is  31,000  times,  and  the  star  o,  Lyrae  is  41,600  times 
more  distant  than  Uranus ;  so  that  light  travelling  at  the  rate 
of  about  170,000  miles  a  second,  would  be  three  years,  nine 
months  and  a  quarter,  and  twelve  years,  in  reaching  us  from 
these  bodies,  respectively.  But  if  each  of  the  stars  in  a  neb- 
ulous cluster  be  a  sun,  and  if  they  be  separated  by  intervals 
equal  to  that  which  separates  our  sun  from  the  nearest  fixed 
star,  light  would  require  thousands  of  years  in  order  to  reach 
us  from  such  a  distance.  "  The  rays  of  light  of  the  remotest 
nebuliB  must  have  been  about  two  millions  of  years  on  their 
way."  i    They  are  therefore,  as  Humboldt  remarks,  "  the  voices 

'  Sir  W.  Herscliel,  in  tlie  Transact,  for  1802,  p.  498,     Sir  J.  Herschel's 
Astr.  §  590. 


INORGANIC  natukp:.  123 

of  t]i'3  ])ast  vvliich  reiich  us.  It  has  been  well  said,  .'hat  with 
our  mighty  telescopes  we  penetrate  at  once  into  space  and  in'.o 
time.  Much  has  long  disappeared  from  those  disizint  regions 
hefore  it  vanishes  from  our  view,  and  much  has  been  newly 
arranged  before  it  becomes  visible  to  us."  But  were  the  means 
of  vision  which  enable  us  to  behold  that  remote  point  to  be 
doubled,  who  can  imagine  that  we  should  not  see  other  clusters 
burning  at  a  great  distance  beyond  it,  as  it  is  beyond  us  ;  and 
that  were  we  to  be  transported  to  that  remoter  system,  \vq 
should  not  behold  similar  unterminated  collections  of  suns  ar.d 
systems  as  far  beyond  ? 

6.  But  if  such  are  the  distances  which  intervene,  the  quan- 
tity of  matter  of  which  the  sidereal  heavens  is  composed,  lost 
though  we  are  in  the  greatness  of  the  estimate,  bears  a  A^ery 
small  proportion  to  the  immensity  of  space.  There  are  vast 
"  openings  in  heaven,"  desolate  and  starless  regions.  "  Large 
as  the  bodies  are,  the  distances  which  separate  them  are  im- 
measurably greater."  But  even  this  space  is  not  a  void.  It 
appears  to  be  traversed  in  all  directions  by  light,  and  heat,  and 
gravitation. 

7.  If  we  are  lost  in  adoration  of  the  Power  which  had  only 
to  say  to  this  space,  "  Be  filled,"  and  it  was  occupied,  what  can 
we  think  of  the  Being  who  maintains  every  atom  of  the  wdiole 
in  constant  yet  harmonious  activity  !  We  might  remind  our- 
selves of  the  muscular  force  necessary  to  hurl  a  stone  of  a 
pound  weight  to  the  distance  of  a  hundred  yards,  or  to  draw 
it  to  us ;  of  the  force  requisite  to  project  a  cannon  ball  of  50 
pounds  weight  w^ith  a  velocity  of  a  thousand  miles  an  hour ; 
but,  m  the  same  time,  the  earth  woves  G8,000  miles.  Jupiter, 
equal  in  weight  to  1,400  earths,  moves  with  a  velocity  of  29,- 
000  miles  an  hour.  The  rate  of  Mercury  is  107,000  miles  an 
hour.  The  velocity  of  the  comet  of  1680,  is  estimated  at  880,- 
000  miles  in  an  hour.  The  annual  motion  of  61  Cygni  is  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  millions  of  milhons  of  miles,  and  yet,  as  M. 
Arago  remarks,  we  call  it  a  fixed  star !  Such  is  its  distance  ! 
But  this  is  only  a  single  motion  of  a  single  body.  Besides  the 
rotation  of  the  earth  on  its  OAvn  axis,  and  its  annual  motion,  in 
common  with  the  other  planets,  around  the  sun,  there  is  ground 
to  believe  that  the  whole  of  the  solar  system  itself  is  moving 
together  in  one  direction ;  and  beyond  this,  that  the  entire  un- 
iverse of  stars  is  revolving  around  a  common  centre,  in  an  orbit 
so  vast,  that  no  measurable  arc,  in  no  calculable  period  of  du- 
ration, would  ever  appear  otherwise  to  uri  than  a  straight  line. 


124  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

Aiid  what  if  that  common  centre  be,  as  some  think,  a  mass 
of  matter  bearing  the  same  relation  and  proportion  to  the  whole 
circulating  universe  as  our  sun  does  to  its  attendant  planets  — 
then  is  the  view  which  we  have  hitherto  taken  of  the  quantity 
of  matter  in  the  universe  reduced  to  utter  insignificance.  But 
whatever  the  merit  of  this  supposition  may  be,  the  new  and 
more  enlarged  impression  which  it  gives  us  of  the  quantity  of 
matter  falls  immeasurably  below  the  sublime  reality. 

8.  Here,  in  quick  succession,  our  sight  abandons  the  ground 
to  our  powers  of  calculation  ;  our  numbers  fail,  and  resign  the 
subject  to  imagination ;  and  even  imagination  sinks,  and  seeks 
relief  in  exclamations  of  wonder,  or  in  the  silence  of  profound 
adoration.  And  yet  the  whole  of  this  universal  system  of 
masses,  vast  beyond  all  that  the  eye  can  take  in ;  speeding  in 
every  direction,  with  a  velocity  beyond  all  that  arithmetic  oan 
calculate ;  through  realms  of  space  beyond  all  that  the  mind 
can  conceive,  is  stable  as  the  throne  of  God.  If  in  the  mate- 
rial universe  there  be  one  point  of  absolute  repose,  it  is  in  that 
common  centre  of  creation  to  which  we  have  adverted. 

9.  Now,  suppose  we  had  been  able  to  look  on  the  great  pro- 
cess on  a  much  larger  scale  than  we  can  at  present ;  to  place 
ourselves  so  as  to  obtain  a  view  of  these  worlds,  systems  of 
worlds,  collections  of  systems,  in  all  the  variety,  velocity,  and 
extent  of  their  motions,  what  must  have  been  our  reasonable 
conclusions  respecting  the  energy  of  the  Divine  Creator.  Up 
♦o  that  period  we  should  have  lived,  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
Hypothesis,  in  an  empty,  objectless  universe;  and  we  could 
not  have  beheld  the  numberless  unorganized  masses  of  matter 
rolling  around  us,  where  all  had  once  been  vacuity,  without  re- 
garding the  change  as  an  effect,  and  the  Cause,  or  the  Being, 
who  had  produced  it,  as  possessed  of  a  power,  to  us,  unlimited. 

10.  If,  now,  the  question,  to  which  we  have  already  adverted, 
should  be  asked,  whether  or  not  the  proper  infinity  of  the  Di- 
vine Power  could  be  justly  inferred  from  even  this  display  of 
it —  a  display  which,  though  indefinitely  vast,  must  be  necessa- 
rily limited  ?  —  it  may  be  proper  for  the  present,  to  submit  tlie 
following  considerations. 

It  is  freely  admitted,  as  before,  that  in  the  eye  of  strict  a 
posteriori  reasoning,  a  given  mechanical  effect  implies  only 
the  operation  of  a  mechanical  cause  adequate  to  the  produc- 
tion. Beyond  this,  we  admit,  that  the  a  posteriori  argument, 
from  effect  to  cause,  cannot,  by  itself,  demonstrate,  respecting 
any  cause,  that  it  is  the  First  Cause.     "  Though  every  true 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  125 

step  made  in  this  philosophy  {physical  science)  brings  us,"  says 
Newton,  "not  immediately  to  the  knowledge  of  the  First  Cause, 
yet  it  brings  us  nearer  to  it,  and  on  that  account  it  is  to  be  highly 
valued."  ^  It  is  always  conducting  us  in  that  direction,  but  can 
never  certify  us  respecting  any  cause  with  which  it  has  pro- 
perly to  do,  that  there  is  not  another  cause  beyond. 

11.  But  here,  without  stopping  to  examine  whether  or  not 
an  exclusively  a  posteriori  argument  be  possible ;  whether, 
even  in  the  present  instance,  it  does  not  start  with  an  a  priori 
postulate,  or  belief — we  have  to  remind  the  mquiver,  first,  that 
we  are  not  speaking  of  a  mechanical  cause,  but  of  an  intelli- 
gent pei:sonal  agent.  "  We  must  include  a  distinct  personal 
consciousness  of  causation  in  the  enumeration  of  that  sequence 
of  events  by  which  the  volition  of  the  mind  is  made  to  termi- 
nate in  the  motion  of  material  objects."  '^  The  cause  and  the 
eifect  are  not  homogeneous.  The  most,  therefore,  which  he 
can  affirm,  is,  that  if  the  created  effect  be  limited,  the  personal 
Creating  Cause  may  be  limited  also ;  language  which  imphes 
that  He  may  not  be  limited ;  and,  that  if  the  effect  be  only  of 
a  physical  nature,  the  Personal  Cause  may  not  be  equally  ad- 
equate to  produce  effects  of  any  other  kinds ;  language,  again, 
which  implies  that  He  may  be  adequate ;  and  we  know  that 
He  has  since  proved  it.  A  material  cause  is  measured  by  the 
effect,  an  intelligent  cause  is  only  proclaimed. 

12.  Secondly,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  that  this  necessary  limi- 
tation of  the  a  posteriori  argument  is  a  tacit  confession  of  its 
own  incompetence  and  insufficiency,  except  within  the  circle 
of  mere  mechanical  causes  and'  effects.  It  professes  to  trace 
only  the  operation  of  laws,  not  to  account  for  their  origination. 
By  this  very  confession,  that  its  materials  are  not  self-contain- 
ed and  self-sufficient,  but  derived,  it  refers  the  inquirer  to  a 
source  of  derivation  beyond  themselves.  By  acknowledging 
its  own  inefficacy,  it  emphatically  directs  him  to  carry  his  ap- 
})eal  from  the  laws  of  matter  to  the  laws  of  mind.  By  exhibit- 
ing laws,  it  silently  points  to  a  lawgiver.  The  very  tendency 
of  the  a  posteriori  process,  in  its  ascent  from  effects  to  their 
apparent  causes,  is  to  awaken  the  idea  of  a  First  Cause.  And, 
once  the  idea  is  awakened,  the  existence  of  such  a  Cause  is 
felt  to  be  an  intellectual  necessity ;  the  mind  cannot  be  satis- 
fied without  it.     Aristotle  himself  has  said,  "All  that  is  in 

'  Optics,  Query  28,  p.  345. 
^  Sir  J.  Herschcl's  Astronomy,  \).  232. 
11* 


126  THE    PRE-ADAx^IITE    EARTH. 

motion  refers  us  to  a  mover,  and  it  were  but  an  endless  ad- 
journment of  causes  were  there  not  a  primary  immoveable 
Mover."  That  First  Cause,  indeed,  must  be  immensely  dif- 
ferent, both  in  rank  and  in  nature,  from  the  subordinate  phy- 
sical causes  to  which  it  has  imparted  motion  ;  but  still  the  mind 
feels  the  necessity  for  such  a  cause  with  all  the  force  of  an 
intellectual  instinct.  The  mind  was  constituted  to  feel  this 
necessity,  and  thus  to  supply  the  last  liiik  in  the  chain  of  rea- 
soning from  itself,  as  much  as  it  was  made  and  meant  to  find 
the  preceding  links  in  the  phenomena  of  nature. 

\6.  The  inquirer  is  to  be  reminded,  thirdly,  that  in  affirm- 
ing the  limitation  of  the  created  universe,  he  is  quitting  his  a 
fosteriori  ground,  and  is  inconsistently  availing  himself  of  an 
d  priori  assumption.  True,  he  may  start,  on  this  point,  from 
a  posteriori  ground  —  having  observed  that  some  parts  of  the 
material  universe  are  divisible  from  each  other  ;  but  he  can- 
not make  this  the  basis  for  the  inference  that  all  parts  are  in 
the  same  predicament,  without  either  most  unphilosophically 
jumping  to  a  conclusion,  or  having  recourse  to  a  priori  deduc- 
tions. Certainly,  observation  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  sup- 
position. Push  his  inquiries  as  far  as  he  may,  he  nowhere 
finds  vacuity  or  a  limit.  All  the  regions  of  space,  as  far  as 
he  can  explore  them,  are  occupied.  Could  he  actually  look 
on  the  frontiers  of  creation,  he  v/ould  not  know  that  he  was 
doing  so  ;  —  there  might,  for  aught  he  could  say,  be  sometliing 
beyond.  But  he  has  abandoned  all  thought  of  finding  any 
confines  to  nature.  Reasoning  d  priori,  there  must  be  limits  ; 
for  a  substance  divisible  into  parts  cannot  be  infinite.  But 
observation,  and  the  legitimate  inductions  of  observation,  can 
exhibit  no  proof  of  limitation. 

14.  We  have  to  remind  the  inquirer,  fourthly,  that  he  is  in 
danger  of  overlooking  the  power  presupposed  in  the  creating 
act— the  act  of  the  absolute  origination  of  matter.  lie  is 
thinking  only  of  the  quantity  of  matter  in  existence,  and  of  its 
motions.  The  nature  of  the  agency  necessary  to  call  it  into 
existence  is  lost  sight  of  Now  it  seems  impossible  to  conceive 
of  that  power  as  limited.  Not  only  was  there  nothing,  ex  hy- 
pothesi,  absolutely  notliing,  existing  objectively  to  limit  it ;  but 
that,  in  this  state  of  absolute  nonentity,  the  Deity  should  have 
"  called  the  things  which  were  not  as  though  they  were,"  can 
be  conceived  of  only  as  the  prerogative  of  Omnipotence  alone. 

Probably,  the  absolute  origination  of  even  a  single  atom 
would  be  proof  demonstrative  of  infinite  power  in  the  eyes  of 
exalted  intelliijences. 


INORGANIC    NATURE.  127 

15.  FijVily,  the  inquirer  is  to  be  reminded  of  the  very  im- 
portant fact  that,  on  his  own  admission,  the  limitations  of  mat- 
ter in  space  originate,  not  in  the  Cause,  but  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  thing  caused  —  of  the  material  medium  which  exhibit? 
the  effect.  He  himself  predicates  of  matter  that  it  is  condi- 
tioned by  limits  ;  that  its  nature  forbids  it  to  be  properly  infi- 
nite in  extension.  The  question  arises,  therefore,  what  series 
of  effects,  exhibited  in  a  substance  necessarily  subject  to  spe- 
cial limits,  he  —  as  a  being  constituted  to  infer,  from  what  lie 
sees,  more  than  he  sees  —  would  deem  an  adequate  illustration 
of  uncircumscribed  power?  We  just  now  intimated  tliat  the 
absolute  origination  of  a  single  atom  might  be,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  superior  beings,  but  the  sole  i^rerogative  and  the  ade- 
quate proof  of  Omnipotence.  But  here  is  a  universe  of  matter! 
He  has  no  line  with  which  to  measure  it.  Words,  numbers, 
imagination,  fail,  in  succession,  to  do  justice  to  the  intermin- 
able reahty.  We  say,  interminable;  for  the  inquirer  must 
bear  in  mind  that  our  view  of  the  Divine  -power  relies  especially 
on  the  phenomena  of  the  material  universe,  regarded  as  succes- 
sive and  progressive.  Now,  could  its  unimaginable  masses  be 
caused  to  roll  or  rush  before  him,  in  succession ;  surely  he 
would  not  require  many  ages  of  such  a  survey  to  elapse,  be- 
fore he  would  feel  constrained  to  exclaim,  "  It  is  enough !" 
Here,  too,  is  a  universe  of  matter  m  motion.  Let  him  be 
given  to  understand  the  numerical  amount  of  the  forces  im- 
plied in  all  this  activity  ;  surely,  after  the  calculation  had  last- 
ed for  ages  without  any  prospect  of  termination,  he  could  not 
ibrbear  confessing,  "  Nothing  is  too  hard  for  God !"  Here  is 
a  universe  perpetually  changing  in  all  its  parts.  The  changes 
which  our  own  planet  has  passed  through  imply  periods  of 
time  beyond  our  computation.  Let  him  conceive  himself  to 
have  beheld  the  first  change,  and  the  next,  and  so  on,  in  suc- 
cession ;  surely  he  w^ould  have  exclaimed,  ages,  and  cycles  of 
ages  ago,  "  Power  belongeth  unto  God  !"  —  all-sufficient  j)ow^er. 
He  cannot  but  feel  that,  in  such  an  imaginary  position,  the 
mere  reasoning  which  measures  the  cause  by  the  effect  would 
soon  be  out  of  place ;  that,  having  prepared  the  way  for  a  lof- 
tier rule,  it  would  confess  its  own  inadequacy,  and  be  silent. 
Other  and  higher  faculties  than  it  implies  would  be  awakened, 
and  w^ould  assert  their  claims.  And  wdien  he  remembered 
that  the  mighty  system  was,  both  in  the  constitution  of  every 
particle  and  the  collocation  of  its  unnumbered  worlds,  entirely 
dependent  on  the  will  of  God,  he  would  feel  that  even  liere 


128  THE   PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

"  was  the  hiding  of  His  power"  —  that  He  could  reduce  or  en- 
large the  universe  at  pleasure.  When  he  saw  the  innumerable 
changes  which  the  great  system  had  already  passed  through ; 
and  that  no  trace  was  visible  of  a  failure  of  power,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  that  everything  was  apparently  constructed  and  con- 
ducted to^  evince  its  presence  and  its  plenitude,  he  could  not 
but  feel  himself  challenged  to  say  whether  anything  more  was 
wanting  to  convince  him  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  God,  in  this 
department,  for  all  the  future.  And  when  he  recollected,  that 
"  the  arm  of  God  was  still  bare,"  still  evolving  and  working 
out  the  immeasurable  scheme ;  that  every  new  moment  brougiS 
with  it  an  incalculable  amount  of  new  evidence  of  the  Divtne 
Power  to  be  added  to  all  the  accumulations  of  the  past ;  and 
that  of  such  increase  there  was  no  prospect  of  an  end;  he 
would  feel  himself  in  the  presence  of  a  God  all-sufficient,  and 
spontaneously  adore. 

16.  For,  in  the  consideration  of  this  subject,  it  should  never 
be  forgotten,  that,  as  we  have  before  remarked,  man  is  not 
merely  an  intellectual,  but  also  a  moral  being ;  a  being  meant 
for  virtue  as  well  as  for  reasoning,  and  partly,  as  the  result  of 
his  reasoning.  In  relation  to  every  moral  truth,  therefore, 
which  he  may  be  required  to  believe,  evidence,  depending  lor 
its  due  effiict  on  his  own  diligence,  attention,  and  state  of  mind, 
is  to  be  expected,  to  a  certain  amount,  but  not  beyond  that 
amount.^  If  wanting  in  that  amount,  belief  would  be  impossi- 
ble;  if  it  be  in  excess  of  that  amount,  it  would,  by  compelling 
belief,  make  virtue  impossible.  Constituted  as  man  is,  if  his 
belief  is  to  be  at  once  rational  and  virtuous,  the  evidence  on 
wliich  it  is  to  be  based  must  be  supplied  in  "  weight  and  mea- 
sure." Such  evidence,  it  is  conceived,  is  supplied  in  this  open- 
ing stage  of  the  Divine  procedure  —  evidence  calculated  to 
call  forth  the  intelligent  and  adoring  exclamation,  "  Lo !  these 
are  parts  of  His  ways ;  but  the  thunder  of  His  power  v/ho  can 
understand!"  And  thus  the  method  and  the  reason  of  the 
Divine  Plan,  as  evinced  in  this  primary  display,  find  iJieir 
ultimate  end,  in  contributing  to  prove  the  all-sumciency  of  the 
power  of  God. 


FOURTH  PART. 
ORGANIC  NATURE 


TJie  Second  Stage  of  Divine  Manifestation, 

POWER   AND    WISDOM. 

The  first  stage  of  the  Divine  manifestation  disclosed  to  us 
"  enormous  masses  of  matter  rolling  around  the  horizon  of 
illimitable  space,"  impelling  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Crea- 
tor of  these  must  be  a  Being  of  all-sufficient  power. 

Let  it  be  supposed  that,  haunted  and  bewildered  with  the 
sublime  spectacle,  and  with  the  laws  to  which  we  saw  matter 
successively  subjected,  we  had  retired  to  muse  on  the  omnipo- 
tence of  the  Being  who  had  produced  the  whole,  and  on  the 
probable  design  of  its  production  ;  and  suppose,  that  now  again, 
after  the  lapse  of  an  incalculable  period,  it  were  permitted  us 
to  revisit  some  part  of  the  material  universe,  to  behold  the 
manifestation  of  another  perfection  of  Deity ;  what  may  we 
conceive  that  perfection  would  be  ? 

1.  But  here,  again,  let  it  be  premised  that  we  do  not  con- 
template anything  like  sudden  transition  in  the  Divine  Mani- 
festation, any  distinct  line  which  appropriates  all  within  it  to 
one  attribute  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other.  The  very  j^ro- 
gressiveness  of  the  manifestation  implies  the  contrary  ;  implies 
that  which  we  actually  find,  that  even  the  earhest  attribute 
supposes  the  coexistence  of  all  that  appear  after  it,  and  is 
itself  to  be  carried  on  through  all  the  intermediate  stages  of 
the  great  process,  to  the  last. 

2.  But  if,  for  reasons  already  assigned,  we  are  warranted  in 
concluding  that  the  manifestation  will  be  gradual ;  and  if,  in 
harmony  with  this  expectation,  we  have  found  that  the  fii-st 
display  was  an  exercise  of  power,  and  that  even  this  display 


130  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

advanced  from  step  to  step,  as  if  to  point  attention  to  some- 
thing jet  beyond ;  we  are  surely  warranted  in  expecting  that 
tlie  period  will  come  in  the  history  of  creation,  when  another 
attribute  will  characterize  the  manifestation  as  distinctly  as 
power  does  already.  What,  we  repeat,  is  that  attribute  likely 
to  be? 

We  have  already  answered  the  question,  in  effect,  by  sup- 
posing that  the  manifestation  of  that  power  has  filled  us  with 
wonder  as  to  w^hat  is  the  design  of  the  universe  of  matter. 
Wisdom,  then,  is  the  next  perfection  for  whose  manifestation 
we  look ;  for  with  God,  design  and  wisdom  mean  the  same 
thing.  Wisdom  is  evinced  in  the  adaptation  and  adjustment  of 
means  to  ends.  Having  seen  the  means,  (we  might  be  supposed 
to  say,)  let  us  proceed  to  examine  the  ends.  Power  has  pro- 
duced the  material ;  in  what  way,  and  to  what  purposes,  will 
Wisdom  employ  it  ?  Immeasurable  ages  have  elapsed  sinc;^ 
the  first  fiat  went  forth,  and  the  universe  seemed  filled,  or  fill- 
ing, with  a  new  substance ;  what  changes  may  not  have  passed 
on  it,  besides  those  which  we  witnessed,  during  the  immense 
interval !  What  if,  since  our  last  survey,  another  fiat  should 
have  gone  forth ;  and,  in  consequence,  another  effect  have  been 
produced  as  wonderful  as  the  first,  and  by  means  of  it ! 

Now  what  should  we  be  willing  to  accept  as  such  an  effect  ? 
And  here,  if  the  mind  would  do  anything  like  justice  to  those 
primary  displays  to  which,  in  the  order  of  the  subject,  we  are 
now  approaching,  it  should  labor  to  divest  itself,  as  much  as 
possible,  of  all  the  impressions  of  the  Divine  Wisdom  which 
it  has  received  from  the  later  and  loftier  stages  of  the  mani- 
festation. Placing  ourselves,  then,  in  the  situation  of  beings 
to  whom  nothing  of  the  kind  has  yet  been  disclosed,  what,  we 
repeat,  should  we  be  willing  to  consider  as  a  display  of  wisdom 
—  of  wisdom  so  marked,  as  to  constitute  an  era  in  the  mani- 
festation, so  wonderful,  that  it  should  seem  to  unveil  to  us  a 
new  view  of  the  Divine  character,  to  bring  us  nearer  than  ever 
to  the  Divine  presence,  and  to  remove  all  bounds  from  our 
expectation  as  to  the  future  ? 

o.  We  will  suppose  that  the  particular  section  of  the  uni- 
verse visited  is  the  solar  system  ;  and  that,  having  marked  the 
scientifically  calculated  intervals  between  the  sun  and  the 
planets,  and  between  the  planets  themselves,  and  especially 
the  rigorous  equality  subsisting  between  the  angular  motions 
of  rotation  and  revolution  of  each  satellite,  we  have  been 
brought   to    conclude,  with    Luplace,    that    the  arrangement 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  131 

is  a  protest  against  chance.  We  will  suppose  that  tlie  par- 
ticular part  of  the  solar  sj  tem  to  which  we  direct  our  atten- 
tion is  the  earth  ;  that  we  mark  the  progressive  changes  ivhich 
it  exhibits  as  compared  with  that  primitive  fluidity  in  which 
we  beheld  it  untold  ages  ago ;  trace  over  again  its  laws  of 
motion,  and  chemistry,  and  crystallization ;  and  fancy  our- 
selves one  while  standing  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  chemical  lab- 
oratory, where  the  great  agent  heat  was  crystallizing  all  things  ; 
and  another  while,  amidst  the  conflicting  operations  of  its  well- 
matched  antagonist,  water,  assaihng,  wearing,  and  reducing 
continents  of  crystal  to  atoms,  and  carrying  them  away  to  its 
own  depths,  but  bearing  them  away  only  to  lose  them  again  by 
a  subterranean  force,  which  lifts  them  up  from  their  submerged 
state  to  the  light  of  day  —  a  lofty  table-land.  Still,  we  should 
feel  that  all  this  was  only  the  play  or  conflict  of  inorganic  mat- 
ter ;  that  each  form  we  beheld  was  lifeless,  and  each  motion 
compelled,  or  impressed  by  a  force  from  without,  "  ceasing  when 
that  ceased,  and  never  proceeding  beyond  its  compulsory  im- 
pulse, either  in  direction  or  degree." 

4.  What^  then,  if  some  form  of  organic  vegetable  life  had 
now  for  the  first  time  met  our  view  !  It  matters  not  whether 
that  form  came  into  existence  slowly  or  suddenly,  alone,'  or  in 
company  with  kindred  tribes,  and  with  millions  of  each  tribe ; 
the  fact  that  the  earth,  after  the  existence  of  a  "  limited  eterni- 
ty," has  become  the  owner  of  a  new  principle  —  a  principle,  be 
it  remarked,  hitherto  unknown  to  the  whole  course  of  nature 
—  a  principle  hitherto  peculiar  to  the  Creator  himself,  the 
sacred  and  mysterious  principle  of  Life  ;  and  that  innumera- 
ble pre-existing  phenomena  were  now  for  the  first  time  em- 
ployed as  7neans,  for  the  development  of  this  new  principle  as 
u7i  end;  this  would  surely  be  hailed  by  us  as  an  epoch  in  the 
progress  of  the  Divine  Manifestation. 


Wisdom. —  Here  was  a  residt  of  which  the  supreme  and  ulti- 
mate reason  is  in  the  Divine  Nature. 

5.  We  have  not  yet  to  speak  of  the  extent  of  the  wisdom 
to  be  inferred  from  this  new  form  of  existence.  At  present,  we 
have  only  to  regard  it  as  evincing  the  existe^ice  of  design 
in  the  Divine  Creator.  Hereafter,  we  shall  have  to  treat 
of  it  as  being  also  a  new  illustration  of  creative  power,  and 
of   every  attribute   and    relation  of    the    Deity  already  dis- 

'  See  Note  D. 


132  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

played  in  the  preceding  stage.  And  whatever  ilhistrations  of 
taste  in  arrangement,  elegance  in  form,  beauty  in  color,  and 
majesty  in  magnitude  and  waving  motion,  are  now  for  the  first 
time  brought  before  us  in  the  botanical  kingdom,  are  to  be 
regarded  as  indications  of  the  Divine  complacency  in  the 
graceful,  the  beautiful,  and  the  sublime.  As  effects,  they  point 
to  correspondencies  infinitely  greater  in  their  cause.  But  even 
the  manner  in  which  each  of  these  effects  is  produced  is  a 
proclamation  of  the  amazing  wisdom  of  the  Maker. 

Every  green  leaf  is  a  magazine  of  contrivances  ;  every  pan 
of  it  capable  of  action,  a  theatre  of  diflerent  organic  wonders. 
And  these  diversities  are  multiplied  to  such  a  degree,  that,  if 
we  would  not  be  bewildered,  an  attempt  at  classification  is  ne- 
cessary at  the  very  outset  of  our  observations.  Here^  in  the 
primeval  earth,  are  the  three  classes  which  are  still  extant ;  the 
acotyledons,  or  those  which,  having  no  flowers,  produce  no 
true  seeds ;  the  monocotyledons,  or  those  producing  one-lobed 
seeds  ;  the  dicotyledons,  or  those  producing  two-lobed  seeds. 
Of  these  classes,  each  exhibits  an  internal  structure  or  organi 
zation  peculiar  to  itself;  the  first  being  either  vascular  and 
cellular  in  its  tissues,  or  else  entirely  cellular  ;  the  second,  en- 
dogenous, its  growth  taking  place  by  addition  from  without  to 
the  centre  ;  the  third,  exogenous,  the  growth  taking  place  by 
the  addition  of  concentric  layers  without,  immediately  under 
the  bark.  But  each  of  these  classes  includes  numerous  orders 
of  plants,  each  order  a  number  of  genera,  each  genus  many 
species,  and  every  species  a  number  of  individuals  defying  cal 
culation.  Here,  too,  is  "  a  new  thing  in  the  earth  ;"  the  great 
elements  and  phenomena  of  the  inorganic  world  are  seen  sub- 
serving the  purposes  of  organic  life.  The  hand  of  the  Creator 
has  mysteriously  bound  them  to  the  new  principle.  Every 
root  in  creation  is,  by  a  chemistry  of  its  own,  selecting  ele- 
ments from  the  earth ;  every  leaf  is  silently  feeding  on  the 
great  air-field  around  it ;  every  fibre  is  vibrating  to  the  quick- 
ening influence  of  the  light.  Quiet  as  is  the  aspect  of  the 
new  scene,  repose  is,  in  reality,  a  thing  unknown  to  it.  Move- 
ment, activity,  multifarious  excitement,  pervade  the  silent  life 
of  this  new  creation. 

Now  could  we  have  looked  intelligently  on  this  new,  this 
organized,  this  living,  kingdom  of  nature  when  first  it  came 
into  existence,  without  saying  respecting  the  Creator,  "  His 
understanding  is  infinite !"  Here  was  the  first  utterance  of 
His  wisdom,  in  the  adaption  of  means  to  ends. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  133 


II. 


The  Past  hrougJd  forwards.  —  We  have  now  to  see  whether 
or  not  pre-existing  laws  and  elements  are  brought  forwards  and 
employed  in  organic  life. 

1.  Preparatory  to  this,  however,  an  important  question 
claims  our  attention.  Did  the  creation  of  vegetable  life  pre- 
cede that  of  animal  life  ?  or  were  they  contemporaneously  pro- 
duced ?  "  The  earliest  forms  of  life  known  to  geology  [at 
present]  are  not,  as  might  have  been  expected,  j^lants,  but  ani- 
mals." A  few  species  of  coralloids  and  conchifers,  in  the  slates 
of  the  Cambrian  system,  are,  "  the  oldest  monuments  yet  dis- 
covered of  the  creation  of  living  things."  i  But  this  fact,  geolo- 
gists admit,  leaves  the  question  we  have  j^roposed  unanswered. 
Lindley's  experiments  show  that  some  species  of  plants  entire- 
ly disappear  in  water.  Had  such  plants,  then,  existed  for  ages 
j)rior  to  the  introduction  of  animal  hfe,  their  want  of  power  to 
resist  decomposition  would  sufficiently  account  for  the  loss  of 
all  trace  of  their  existence.  And  geologists  are  well  aware 
that  no  certain  inferences  can  be  drawn  from  the  numerical 
proportion  of  fossil  plants  in  difterent  strata,  respecting  the 
numbers  wliich  actually  flourished  during  the  formation  of 
those  strata ;  since  their  preservation  would  depend  on  their 
more  or  less  perishable  nature,  and  on  many  other  circum- 
stances. 

2.  For  the  decision  of  the  question,  then,  we  are  referred  to 
other  considerations.  Some  suppose  they  have  adequate  ground 
for  ascribing  priority  of  existence  to  vegetable  life,  in  the  evi- 
dences which  they  think  they  can  adduce  that  the  atmosphere 
of  the  primitive  world  was  surcharged  v*^ith  carbonic  acid ;  that 
this  very  excess,  which  would  have  been  fatal  to  animal  life, 
would  have  been  conducive  to  the  luxuriance  of  land  vegeta- 
tion ;  and  that  it  was  the  office  of  such  vegetation  to  purify  the 
atmosphere  of  the  ingredient  in  question,  preparatory  to  the 

^  Phillips's  Treat.  Geol.,  vol.  i.  p.  129.  Further  investigation,  how- 
ever, enables  us  to  qualify  this  statement  in  a  manner  which  favors  the 
geo'logical  precedence  of  the  plant  to  the  animal.  In  Sweden,  in  Nor- 
way, in  Russia,  and  in  the  United  States,  there  are  certain  rocks  which 
occupy  relatively  the  same  place  as  the  Lower  Silurian  or  Cambrian  sys- 
tem —  the  lowest  in  which  fossils  have  been  detected.  The  fossils  which 
characterize  them  are  fucoids  —  algre  or  sea- weed.  The  Skiddaw  slates 
bear  their  impressions,  blent  with  graptolites  —  fossil  zoophytes.  They 
constitute  that  "  fucoidal  band  "  of  Sir  R.  I.  Murchison,  which  forms  the 
base  of  :he  vast  Palgeozoic  basin  of  the  Baltic, 

12 


134  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

coming  of  land  animals.  As  this  supposition,  IioAvever,  is  at 
present  open  to  doubts,  we  will  not  rely  on  it ;  and  we  need 
not.  A  moment's  reflection  will  show  that  in  the  system  of 
things  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  constitute,  animal  life 
necessarily  pre-supposes  vegetation,  and  is,  indeed,  very  much 
regulated  in  its  extent  by  the  quantity  supplied.  Vegetable 
is  the  ultimate  support  of  animal  life  ;  for,  though  some  ani- 
mals are  carnivorous,  those  preyed  on,  if  traced  downwards, 
are  found  herbivorous  ;  just  as  the  herb  itself  derives  its  nour- 
ishment from  the  pre-existing  inorganic  elements.  This  is  true 
of  fishes  and  cetaceous  animals  which  feed  on  the  smaller 
plant-eating  Crustacea ;  and  thus,  in  the  ocean,  the  phosphoric 
acid  of  inorganic  nature  is,  by  means  of  plants,  carried  over  to 
animals.i  Both  analogy  and  fact,  then,  authorize  the  inference 
that  plants  preceded  and  prepared  the  way  for  animal  exist- 
ence. And  the  reader  of  the  scriptures  need  not  to  be  remind- 
ed that,  in  the  Mosaic  history  of  the  last  creation,  vegetable 
life  was  called  into  being  first. 

3.  And  as  slowness  characterises  the  processes  of  nature, 
except  where  the  God  of  nature  has  an  end  to  be  answered  by 
quickening  them,  analogy  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  between 
the  commencement  of  the  Flora  and  the  Fauna  of  the  earth,  a 
considerable  period  would  elapse.  This,  at  least,  is  certain, 
that  the  carboniferous  group  contains  more  than  half  the 
known  species  of  fossil  plants,  and  yet  no  trace  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  great  herbivorous  land  quadrupeds  appears  before 
the  tertiary  period.  Besides  which,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  some  of  the  vegetable  tribes  found  in  the  earliest  strata,  ap- 
pear to  have  had  an  end  to  answer  prior,  in  the  order  of  nature,  to 
that  of  sustaining  animal  life — namely,  the  office  of  producing 
soil,  and  thus  preparing  the  way  for  the  superior  tribes  of  their 
own  order  of  life.  But,  whether  the  Flora  preceded  the  Fau- 
na by  an  interval  longer  or  shorter,  is  of  little  present  impor- 
tance. It  is  enough  for  us  that  we  have  ground  to  believe  that 
life  began  on  the  earth  by  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

4.  We  are  now  prepared  to  see  whether  or  not  the  pre-ex- 
isting laws  and  elements  of  the  inorganic  world  are  brought 
forwards  and  employed  in  organic  life.  Wliat  more  there  may 
be  in  this  new  department,  is  not  now  the  question ;  we  have 
at  present  only  to  look  for  the  continuity  described.    And  first, 

'  See  a  paper  by  Professor  Forchhammer,  read  by  Sir  R.  I.  Murchison 
to  the  British  Association,  1>5.4. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  135 

we  recognise  it  in  the  external  relations  of  the  plant.  Botany- 
has  its  geography.  The  plant  is  not  only  a  native  of  the  earth, 
but  each  different  species  has  its  peculiar  territory,  or,  in  tech- 
nical language,  its  "  habitat."  Did  light  exist  before  the  plant 
was  created  ?  The  humblest  herb  requires  it,  turns  towards  it, 
seeks  after  it,  and,  without  it,  perishes.  For  water  and  air,  it 
has  the  power  of  absorption.  For  the  temperature,  each  spe- 
cies possesses  a  constitutional  adaptation  which  can  never  be 
violated  with  impunity.  The  first  seed  that  germinated  claim- 
ed kindred  with  all  the  material  elements  which  w^ere  in  ex- 
istence when  it  came.  And  the  bud  at  this  moment  bursting, 
is  holding  communion  with  the  distant  sun,  and  comes  to  lay 
all  nature  under  tribute. 

5.  But  let  us  proceed  from  this  general  reference  to  the  re- 
lation subsisting  between  the  external  conditions  of  the  plant 
and  its  organization,  to  mark  the  presence  and  continuity  of 
the  laws  and  results  of  inorganic  nature  in  the  internal  relations 
of  the  plant.  Now,  as  to  the  organic  constituents  of  plants, 
they  are  derived  entirely,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the  inor- 
ganic world ;  and  consist  chiefly  of  four  of  the  fifty  or  sixty 
simple  elements  —  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen. 
Whatever  there  may  have  been  originally  included  in  the  con- 
stitution of  inorganic  nature,  with  a  view  to  the  future  Flora 
of  the  earth,  no  new  materials  were  called  into  existence  on 
the  occasion  of  its  creation.  And,  entirely  distinct  as  was  the 
new  principle  of  hfe  which  w^as  now  to  be  introduced,  the  pre- 
existing elements  were  sufficient  in  the  hands  of  the  Creator, 
for  the  means  of  its  manifestation.  Modern  organic  chemis- 
try, we  repeat,  consists  of  little  more  than  the  study  of  four  of 
these  selected  elements  and  their  multiform  combinations. 
Here  is  the  law  of  gravity,  carrying  the  root  of  the  plant 
downwards,  and  making  it  one  with  the  mass  of  the  earth. 
Here  is  the  attraction  of  cohesion  uniting  the  parts  of  the 
plant,  and  giving  it  individuaHty.  Here  is  motion,  or  me- 
chanical force,  carrying  the  fluids  absorbed  for  nutrition  from 
the  root  upwards.  Here  is  chemical  affinity,  attracting  the 
surrounding  particles  with  elective  forces,  and  completely 
changing  their  nature.  Here  is  developed  symmetry,  answer- 
ing, in  form,  to  crystallization,  giving  determinate  figure  to  the 
organized  body. 

6.  In  the  preceding  Part,  we  remarked  that  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  crystal  we  saw  what  might  be  regarded  as  the  most 
finished  production  of  the  inorganic  world  ;  and "  that,  in  its 


136  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

symmetrical  arrangement  we  beheld  an  image  suggestive  of 
the  coming  flower.  But  if  the  crystal  is  to  be  looked  on,  in 
respect  to  form,  as  a  mineral  flower,  the  flower,  though  much 
more,  is  a  vegetable  crystal.  Cuvier  affirmed  even  that  the 
form  of  the  living  body  is  more  essential  to  it  than  its  matter. 
Be  tliis  as  it  may,  morphology,  or  the  subject  of  form,  belongs 
to  the  science  of  botany. 

in. 

Progression. — The  same  theory  which  led  us  to  look  for  the 
continuance  of  pre-existing  laws  and  elements  in  organized 
matter,  leads  us  farther  to  expect  in  this  organization  the  man- 
ifestation of  new  effects,  or  the  introduction  of  a  new  princi- 
ple. Nor  are  we  disappointed.  Here  are  life  and  its  manifes- 
tations. 

1.  But  what  is  organic  life?  As  we  can  acquire  a  know- 
ledge of  matter  only  by  the  changes  of  which  it  is  susceptible, 
so  life  becomes  known  to  us  only  by  its  effects  or  manifesta- 
tions. And  these  may  be  summed  up  under  the  heads  of  As- 
similation and  Propagation  ;  the  nourishment  of  the  individual 
and  the  continuance  of  the  race. 

2.  An  organic  body  is  distinguished  from  an  inorganic  by  the 
mysterious  power  of  assimilation.  The  inorganic  increases  by 
external  additions ;  thus  particles  allowed  to  coalesce  from  a  state 
of  solution,  arrange  themselves  into  crystalline  forais,  which  can 
increase  only  by  the  further  juxta-position  of  particles  added  to 
them  externally.  The  organic  is  nourished  by  a  power  of  ap- 
propriation within.  The  former  only  fnds,  the  latter  pre- 
pares, makes,  what  is  added  to  its  structure ;  re-casting  the- 
inert  substance,  and  exhibiting  it  in  new  unions,  not  of  binary 
merely,  but  of  ternary  and  quaternary  combinations.  The  in- 
organic changes  that  on  which  it  acts  chemically ;  the  organic 
vitalizes,  and  imparts  to  the  matter  which  it  vitalizes  the  power 
of  acting  in  the  same  way  on  other  substances.  This  is  the 
end  and  object  of  that  series  of  functions  which,  beginning  with 
absorption,  conveys  the  absorbed  matter  through  the  stem  into 
the  leaves,  then  subjects  it  to  a  process  of  exhalation,  submits 
the  rest  to  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  conveys  it  back  into 
the  system,  elaborates  it  by  secretion,  and  ends  in  assimilation. 

3.  And  the  plant  is  also  generative.  The  inorganic  mass, 
as  we  have  seen,  can  only  increase  by  cohesion  and  agglome- 
ration from  without.     But  the  plant  "  hath  its  seed  in  itself." 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  137 

It  exists  in  generations.     Besides  vitalizing  that  which  is  ne 
cessary  to  the  conservation  of  each  of  its  own  parts,  it  is  en- 
dowed with  the  i:)0wer  of  giving  existence  to  a  new  whole,  and 
of  providing  the  germ  with  the  nourishment  necessary  for  it  in 
order  to  commence  its  independent  being. 

4.  If  now  to  the  question,  "  What  is  life  ?"  it  be  replied  in 
the  language  of  Schmid,  "  Life  is  the  activity  of  matter,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  organization  ;"  the  question  naturally  arises. 
What  is  organization  ?  Perhaps  the  best  answer  which  has 
been  furnished  is  by  Kant,  "An  organized  product  of  nature 
is  that  in  which  all  the  parts  are  mutually  ends  and  means."' 
Let  it  be  remarked,  it  is  not  said  that  the  product  is  made  up 
of  mutually  dependent  parts  ;  nor  that  the  parts  are  mutually 
causes  and  effects  ;  both  of  these  descriptions  might,  in  a  sense, 
be  true  of  a  piece  of  machinery.  But  in  a  piece  of  mechan- 
ism, "  the  parts  have  no  properties  which  they  derive  from  the 
whole."  In  an  organized  body  they  have  ;  the  leaf,  separated 
from  the  plant,  begins  immediately  to  lose  the  properties  of  a 
leaf,  and  soon  ceases  to  retain  even  its  form.  Here,  the  causes 
and  effects  are  so  related  as  not  merely  to  excite  the  idea  of 
contrivance  and  intention ;  the  light  in  which  we  feel  impelled 
to  regard  them  is  that  of  means  and  ends  returning  into  each 
other  with  a  \-iew  to  the  constitution  of  a  whole.  The  physi- 
ologist finds  that  each  intelligible  part  of  the  system  has  a  defi- 
nite office ;  each  organ,  an  appropriate  function  ;  that  no  por- 
tion of  it  exists  in  vain  ;  and  that  each  part  not  only  answers 
an  end,  but  is  so  formed  as  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  constructed  for  that  end ;  and  that  that  end,  which  is 
again  to  become  a  means,  is  the  reason  why  it  is  where,  and 
what,  it  is.  Here,  then,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  new  depart- 
ment of  Divine  operation. 

The  notion  of  design  in  organized  bodies  —  of  contrivance, 
and  of  an  end  to  be  obtained  by  such  contrivance  —  is  natural 
and  inevitable  to  the  human  mind.  The  mind  is  made  to  ask, 
why  this  function,  or  this  member,  just  because  the  object  is 
made  to  reply.  And  it  is  by  wisely  questioning  nature,  under 
the  conviction  that  each  organ  and  part  was  intended  to  an- 
swer a  certain  end,  that  physiology  has  been  able  to  make  any 
j)rogress.  Under  this  persuasion  it  is  that  Cuvier  speaks  of 
the  combination  of  organs  adapted  to  "  the  part  which  the  ani- 
mal has  to  play  in  nature."     But  there  is  another  school  of 

'  Sec  rrofessoi-  WhewcU's  riiil.  of  the  Indue.  Sciences,  vol.  ii.  c.  iil 
12* 


138  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EAKTII. 

physiologists  wliicli  attempts  to  decry  the  doctrine  of  final 
causes,^  though  they  will  be  found  to  be  frequently  using  lan- 
guage in  harmony  with  it ;  thus  unconsciously  rendering  hom- 
age to  the  idea  which  they  profess  to  repudiate.  ''I  know 
nothing  of  animals  which  have  to  jilay  a  part  in  nature,"'  says 
Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire.  "  I  take  care  not  to  ascribe  any  i7iten- 
tion  to  God." 2  But  this,  it  appears  to  me,  is  mere  logomachy 
and  self-delusion.  Some  guiding  idea  to  direct  his  inquiries 
the  physiologist  must  have.  The  idea  which  Geotfrey  St. 
Hilaire  and  his  school  profess  to  have  taken,  in  opposition  to 
the  idea  of  design  or  final  cause,  is  that  of  "  unity  of  composi- 
tion," or  "  analogues,"  or  "•  morphology,"  which  seeks  to  reduce 
all  animated  nature  to  one  plan  or  principle  of  composition. 
Now  let  their  writings  be  referred  to,  and  it  will  he  found  that, 
in  efifect,  they  have  only  substituted  one  form  of  the  doctrine 
of  final  causes  for  another ;  that  "  unity  of  composition  "  is  their 
final  cause ;  that  they  mentally  assume  it  in  every  physiolo- 
gical inquiry,  and  find  or  fancy  illustrations  of  it  in  every 
organized  body. 

5.^  That  organization  involves  this  idea  of  rneans  and  ends, 
as  distinguished  from  causes  and  effects,  contemplated  in  our 
last  Part,  will  appear,  if  we  remember,  that  it  is  here  for  the 
first  time  that  we  speak  of  failure  or  disease.  "  Physiology," 
observes  Bicliat,  "  is  to  the  movements  of  living  bodies  what  as- 
tronomy, dynamics,  hydraulics,  &c.,  are  to  those  of  inert  matter; 
but  these  latter  sciences  have  no  branches  which  correspond 
to  them  as  pathology  corresponds  to  physiology.  For  the 
same  reason,  all  notion  of  a  medicament  is  repugnant  to  the 
physical  sciences.  A  medicament  has  for  its  object  to  bring 
the  properties  of  the  system  back  to  their  natural  type ;  but 
the  physical  properties  never  depart  from  this  type,  and  have 
no  need  to  be  brought  back  to-  it.  And  thus  there  is  nothing 
in  the  physical  sciences  which  holds  the  place  of  therapeutic 
in  physiology."  On  which  Professor  Whewell  remarks,  "  Of 
inert  force,  we  have  no  conception  of  what  they  ought  to  do, 
except  what  they  do.  The  forces  of  gravity,  elasticity,  afiinity, 
never  act  in  a  diseased  manner ;  we  never  conceive  them  as 
failing  in  their  purpose  ;  for  we  do  not  conceive  them  as  having 
any  purpose,  which  is  answered  by  one  mode  of  their  action 
rather  than  another.     But  with  organical  forces  the  case  is 

'  Principles  de  Philosophie  Zoologique,  p.  65. 
-  Hid.,  p.  10. 


OllGANlC    LIFE.  139 

different;  they  are  necessarily  conceived  as  acting  ^r  the  pre- 
servation and  development  of  the  system  in  which  they  reside. 
If  they  do  not  do  this,  they  fail,  they  are  deranged,  diseased." 
And  he  founds  on  the  distinction-  this  aphorism :  "  The  idea  of 
living  beings  as  subject  to  disease  includes  a,  recognition  of  a 
final  cause  in  organization ;  for  disease  is  a  state  in  which  the 
vital  forces  do  not  attain  their  proper  ends."  Now  physiologi- 
cal botany  includes  nosology,  or  the  science  which  treats  of  the 
diseases  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

6.  Here,  then,  (and  we  only  call  attention  to  the  fact  in 
passing,  with  a  view  to  ifs  future  apj^lication,)  here,  in  tha 
botanical  kingdom,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  department  of  the 
Divine  procedure  essentially  different  from  that  which  we  have 
left  behind  us  in  the  mineral  kingdom.  There  we  saw  evenfs, 
and  thought  only  of  their  efficient  cause  ;  here  we  find  means, 
and  look  for  their  final  cause  or  end.  There  we  found  oui- 
selves  so  near  to  the  First  cause,  —  for  we  cannot  conceive  of 
a  material  cause  of  the  adjustment  and  motions  of  the  plane- 
tary system,  —  that  we  naturally  look  back  to  recognise  and 
adore  it ;  here,  we  find  ourselves  so  near  to  ends  answered  by 
proximate  causes  v/hich  we  can  recognise,  that  we  as  naturally 
look  on  to  these  ends  in  admiration  of  the  Divine  Contriver. 
There,  we  saw  fixed  laws  in  operation,  so  that  nothing  happen- 
ed by  chance  ;  here  we  see  the  v/ise  adjustment  of  means  to 
ends,  so  that  nothing  is  in  vain.  There  we  saw  physical  cause 
and  effect  taking  place  in  a  certain  invariable  order  and  sym- 
metry, and  we  felt  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  Intelligent  Pow- 
er ;  here,  we  see  fixed  ends  or  purposes,  the  direction  of  means 
towards  them,  and  changes  taking  place  to  attain  them,  and 
we  feel  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  a  Wise  as  well  as- an  Intel- 
ligent Power. 

7.  And  does  not  tliis  important  distinction  account  for  the 
sagacious  remark  of  Bacon,'  that  final  causes  are  not  to  be  ad- 
mitted into  physical  or  mechanical  inquiries  ?  For  we  see  that, 
while  there,  we  are  only  among  causes  and  effects.  It  is  not 
until  we  get  into  our  present  region  of  organization  that  wo 
find  ourselves  among  means  and  ends.  As  soon  as  we  reach 
the  first  link  of  the  living  chain,  "  whose  seed  is  in  itself,"  wc 
fi 'el  that  the  only  ^ideqnate  definition  is,  that  "  the  parts  are 
mutually  means  and  ends." 

H.  And  will  not  tiie  <ii,i;inction  throw  light  also  on  x\\q  "' dif- 


\)ii  Au;;:UCHt.    Sc.  ii.   iG5. 


140  THE    PIIE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ficultj  sometimes  felt  in  the  estimate  of  the  proofs  of  creative 
wisdom  and  power  supplied  hj  the  contemplation  of  organized 
life  as  compared  with  those  derived  from  the  study  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies  ?  "  The  former  —  the  organic  phenomena  —  it  has 
been  noticed,  do  not  furnish  (to  some  minds  at  least)  the  same 
ready  and  conclusive  evidence  of  a  Deity  as  the  latter  —  the 
mechanical  phenomena. i  And  the  view  which  we  are  now 
taking  would  have  enabled  us  to  show,  a  priori,  that  such  would 
probably  be  the  fact,  and  to  assign  the  reason  why.  Organic 
phenomena  disclose  a  number  of  visible  proximate  causes  com- 
bined to  accomplish  a  purpose,  and  we  think  only  or  principally 
of  the  ivisdom  of  the  Being  who  has  designed  it ;  the  celestial 
phenomena  simplify  the  theological  argument  by  confining  our 
attention  to  the  J3emff  himself,  the  First  Cause  of  the  wdiole. 

Or  thus ;  if  we  begin  at  an  advanced  stage  of  the  Creative 
process  —  say,  in  the  animal  kingdom,  wdiere  there  is  conscious 
enjoyment,  w^e  should  find  illustrations  of  the  existence  of  a 
ffood,  a  wise  and  an  intelligent  Power.  Descending  to  the  bo- 
tanical kingdom,  we  find  that  we  have  lost  the  proofs  of  good- 
ness, and  have  narrowed  our  argument  to  the  fact  of  a  ivise 
and  intelligent  Poiver.  Descending  again  to  the  mineral  and 
mechanical  kingdom,  we  find  that  the  proof  of  Wisdom  is  gone, 
and  that  our  illustrations  are  restricted  to  the  fact  of  the  exist- 
ence of  an  intelligent  Power. ^  The  argument  tapers  to  a  single 
term.  But  then  it  is  all  the  more  powerfully  felt,  owing  to  its 
very  simplicity. 

9.  Kant's  definition  of  an  organized  body,  as  "  that  in  which 
all  the  parts  are  mutually  ends  and  means,"  implies  a  circular- 
ity in  the  operation  of  the  organized  system.  Hence  Cuvier 
represents  life  under  the  image  of  a  ivhirlpool,  having  a  con- 
stant direction,  and  always  carrying  along  its  stream  particles 
of  the  same  kinds  ;  individual  particles  of  which  are  constantly 
entering  in  and  departing  out ;  so  that  the  form  of  the  living 
body  is  more  essential  to  it  than  its  matter. 

Now  without  attempting  to  estimate  the  importance  of  the 
for7n — understanding  by  the  term,  the  structure  as  compared 
with  the  matter  of  organic  life,  we  would  for  the  present,  simply 
point  attention  to  the  fact  that  an  organized  body  involves  the 
idea  of  a  determinate  structural  form.     In  addition,  an  organ- 

*  Professor  Powell's  Connection  of  Nat.  and  Div.  Truth,  p.  146.  Dr. 
Turton's  Nat.  Theolofi^y,  p.  54. 

^  In  the  same  way,  the  mere  act  of  creation,  could  we  have  witnessed 
<t,  would  have  furnished  a  i)roof  of  j^owcr  only,  without  the  intelligence. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  141 

ized  bod}'  lias  the  power  of  attracting  into  itself  parts  of  sur- 
rounding substances,  of  detaining  and  changing  a  portion  for 
its  own  use,  and  of  giving  up  some  of  its  own  substance  in 
return.  This  is  in  constant  process.  The  structure  not  only 
retains  its  form,  like  the  whirl  of  the  vortex,  though  the  mat- 
ter constantly  passes  away  and  is  renewed ;  but  each  particle 
is  acted  on  at  every  point  of  the  vortex,  and  is  transformed  in 
the  whirl.  On  these  grounds,  the  best  idea  we  can  obtain  of 
organic  life  is,  in  the  language  of  Professor  Whewell,  that  it  is 
a  constant  form  of  circulating  matter,  in  which  the  matter  and 
the  form  determine  each  other  hy  particular  laws  {that  is,  hy  vital 
forces).  Of  the  mysterious  nature  of  these  vital  forces  we 
shall  speak  hereafter. 

IV. 

Continuity.  —  By  another  of  our  laws,  we  are  led  to  expect 
that  the  manifestation,  besides  being  progressive,  ivill  be  contin- 
uous —  leaving  no  intervals  of  space  or  time,  but  such  as  the 
modifying  influence  of  other  knos  may  require  or  account  for. 

Now  if,  as  we  believe,  such  conditional  breaches  of  conti- 
nuity occur,  and  if,  according  to  another  of  our  laws,  every 
inferior  part  of  creation  is  destined  to  serve  a  higher  moral 
purpose,  we  may  be  able  to  show  that  the  exceptions  to  the 
rul'e  of  continuity  contribute  ultimately  to  the  same  end  as  the 
rule  itself,  only  in  a  different  manner.  The  exceptions  may 
be  as  cogent  against  the  doctrine  of  a  necessity  in  nature,  as 
the  continuity  may  be  in  favor  of  design.  At  present,  how- 
ever, our  concern  is  with  the  evidences  of  continuous  progress 
in  the  Floras  of  the  ancient  earth. 

1.  For  reasons  already  named,  especially  that  of  the  absorp- 
tion of  plants,  owing  to  their  soft  and  destructible  nature, 
during  the  consolidation  of  strata,  no  certain  inferences  can  be 
drawn  from  the  numerical  proportion  of  fossil  plants  in  the 
different  formations.  In  the  new  list,  by  M.  Goppert,  the 
species  of  fossil  plants  discovered  up  to  the  present  time  all 
over  the  globe,  amount  to  1,792.^  Their  numerical  distribu- 
tion in  the  different  rocks  is  stated  to  be  as  follows :  — 

Palaeozoic 52 

Carboniferous 819 

Permian 58 

^  From  a  paper  read  by  Sir  K.  I.  Murchison  to  the  British  Associa- 
tion, 1845. 


142  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

Triassic 86 

Oolitic       234 

Wealden 16 

Cretaceous 62 

Tertiary 454 

Unknown 11 

L792 
From  this  table  it  appears  that  the  carboniferous  group 
alone  contains  nearly  half  the  known  species  of  fossil  plants. 
This  sudden  outburst  of  vegetable  life  in  the  ancient  earth,  as 
compared  with  the  Floras  immediately  preceding  and  follow- 
ing, intimates,  at  least,  that  the  continuous  progress  to  be 
looked  for  is  not  that  of  successive  numerical  increase.  The 
living  Flora,  of  about  80,000  species,  is  probably  an  increase 
on  all  the  past ;  but  then  the  increase  has  been  numerically 
irregular. 

2.  If  traces  of  a  great  botanical  plan  or  system  are  sought 
for,  they  are  not  w^anting ;  though  they  appear  to  be  subject 
to  interruptions  similar  to  those  which  affect  the  numerical 
proportions  of  plants.  Certain  chasms  now  existing  in  the 
scheme  of  botanical  organization,  have  been  partially  filled  up 
by  discoveries  in  the  ancient  Floras.  Thus,  by  means  of  Le- 
pidodendra,  in  the  transition  series,  a  kind  of  link  is  supplied 
between  the  flowering  and  the  flowerless  plants.!  So  also  the 
Cycadeoe,  of  the  secondary  series,  appear  to  fill  up  a  blank 
which  would  otherwise  have  separated  the  three  great  natural 
divisions  of  plants  —  the  seedless  class,  the  one-lobed  seed 
class,  and  the  two-lobed  seed  class.  Here,  however,  without 
stopping  to  remark  on  the  existence  of  intermediate  spaces 
which  probably  have  never  been  filled  up  in  the  manner  sug- 
gested, it  is  enough  for  us  to  know  "  that  although  many  ex- 
tinct genera  and  certain  families  have  no  living  representa- 
tives, and  even  ceased  to  exist  after  the  deposition  of  the  coal 
formation,  yet  are  they  connected  with  modern  "vegetables  by 
common  principles  of  structure,  and  by  details  of  organization, 
which  show  them  all  to  be  parts  of  one  grand,  and  consistent, 
and  harmonious  design."- 

3.  But,  chiefly,  is  continuous  progress  observable  in  the 
gradual  increase,  and  final  ascendancy,  of  the  more  complica- 
ted dicotyledons,  or  two-lobed  seed  class  of  plants,  over  the 


'  Lindley  and  Button's  Fossil  Flora,  vol.  ii.  p.  53. 
2  Buckland's  B.  Treatise,  p.  480. 


ORGANIC    LIFE,  143 

more  sim])lo  forms  of  the  earlier  periods.  If  we  look  at  the 
ancient  Floras,  as  distributed  through  the  three  great  periods 
of  geological  history  —  the  transition,  the  secondarj^,  and  the 
tertiary  eras  —  we  lind  that  sea-weeds,  or  algne,  existed  during 
even  the  early  formations  of  the  first  period.  Such  structures 
are  found  in  Scandinavia  among  the  very  oldest  fossil  groups,  i 
But  it  is  in  the  carboniferous  series  of  this  era,  especially,  that 
we  are  called  to  admire  the  fulness  of  vegetable  life.  Here 
are,  already,  the  three  great  divisions  of  plants  —  the  seedless, 
the  one-lobed,  and  the  two-lobed  seed  classes.  But  while 
plants  of  the  second  and  third  classes  are  here  comparatively 
rare,  those  of  the  Cryptogamic,  or  first  class,  such  as  Ferns 
and  gigantic  Equisetaceie,  abound. 

In  the  next  era,  a  decided  change  is  visible.  The  Ferns 
and  Equisetacete  are  reduced  both  in  size  and  number  ;  being 
perhaps  one-third  of  the  whole.  The  greater  part  of  the  re- 
mainder are  Cycadea3  and  Conifera^,  with  a  few  Liliaceous 
plants  ;  the  Conifera3  belonging  to  the  two-lobed  seed  class, 
the  Liliacece  to  the  one-lobed  seed  class,  and  the  Cycadece, 
which  are  so  prevalent  as  to  give  a  character  to  the  upper 
formations  of  this  era,  resembling  the  palms  of  the  monoco- 
tyledonous  class  in  external  appearance,  and  the  Coniferos  in 
the  structure  of  the  flower  and  fruit.  Here,  then,  is  an 'approach 
to  proportion  between  the  first  and  third  classes  of  plants. 

In  the  third  era  the  scale  is  decidedly  turned.  Most  of  the 
families  of  the  first  period,  and  many  of  those  of  the  second, 
hav^  disappeared.  Plants  resembling  our  own  Flora  have 
taken  their  place.  We  recognise  our  planes  and  firs,  willows 
and  elms,  poplars,  chestnuts  and  sycamores.  The  dicotyledo- 
nous, or  two-lobed  seed  class,  predominates.  In  our  living 
Flora  they  form  about  two-thirds  of  the  whole. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  then,  the  geological  periods  exhibit  botan- 
ical progression.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  of  more  striking  il- 
lustrations of  the  rule.  We  can  conceive,  for  example,  of  every 
family  resembling  the  Coniferoe,  which,  beginning  with  the 
first  stage  of  vegetation,  has  gone  on  "  increasing  in  the  num- 
ber and  variety  of  its  genera  and  species,"  down  to  the  last 
stage.  But  the  plan  of  the  Creator  did  not  require  such  an 
illustration  of  the  law ;  and,  therefore,  probably  the  conditions 
of  the  earth  did  not  consist  with  it.  It  is  sufficient  to  find 
that  the  Divine  outline  of  botanical  organization  has  been  pro- 


Professor  Forchhammer's  paper  to  the  British  Association.  1844. 


144  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

gressively  filling  up ;  and  also  that  the  order  observed  has 
been,  on  the  whole,  from  the  primary  prevalence  of  the  more 
rudimentary  and  simple,  to  the  ultimate  predominance  of  the 
more  complex  and  perfect  forms.  Here  is  nothing,  be  it  re- 
marked, to  countenance  the  idea  of  any  want  of  permanence 
of  species.  The  great  three-fold  distinction  of  acotyledonous, 
monocotyledonous,  and  dicotyledonous,  existed  in  the  first  pe- 
riod as  they  do  still. 


Activity.  —  This  new  principle  of  organic  assimilation,  may 
be  farther  illustrated  if  w^e  proceed  to  inquire  after  the  appli- 
cation of  that  law  of  creation  which  affirms  that  every  being 
will  he  found  to  manifest  all  that  it  is  calculated  to  exhibit  of  the 
Divine  nature^  by  developing  or  working  out  its  own  nature  — 
by  activity.  The  activity  of  the  mechanical  and  chemical  forces 
we  saw  in  the  preceding  Part.  But  these  are  constantly  tend- 
ing "  to  produce  a  final  condition.  Mechanical  forces  tend  to 
produce  equilibrium  ;  chemical  forces  tend  to  produce  compo- 
sition or  decomposition ;  and  this  point  once  reached,  the  matter 
in  which  these  forces  reside  is  altogether  inert.  But  an  organic 
body  tends  to  a  constant  motion,  and  the  highest  activity  of 
organic  forces  shows  itself  in  continuous  change."  "  So  long  as 
this  motion  subsists,"  observes  Cuvier,  "  the  body  in  which  it 
takes  place  is  alive  ;  it  lives."^  Even  in  popular  language,  life 
is  a  term  employed  to  express  the  highest  degree  of  activity. 
And  in  accordance  with  this  view  of  the  activity  of  the  vital 
forces  we  find  that  they  form  an  ever-wdiirling  vortex.  But 
even  this  is  far  from  conveying  an  adequate  idea  of  their  activ- 
ity. They  leave  nothing  as  they  found  it.  They  not  merely 
move  that  on  wdiicli  they  act,  but  subdue  it ;  not  merely  change, 
but  assimilate,  organize,  and  share  with  it  their  own  vitality. 
And  though  this  activity  is  not  always  maintained  at  the  same 
rate,  so  essential  is  it  to  the  full  development  of  organic  life 
that  it  never  pauses.  Even  during  winter,  when  vegetable 
life  is  thought  to  repose,  new  fibres  are  forming  at  the  roots,  a 
slight  progression  of  the  sap  is  going  on,  and  a  trifiing  enlarge- 
ment of  the  buds  taking  place  ;-  while,  wherever  an  organ  is 
wanting  to  complete  the  symmetry  of  the  plant,  or  any  depart- 

'  Professor  Whewell's  Inductive  Sciences,  vol.  ii.  c.  iv. 
2  Professor  Henslow's  Physiol.  Botany,  p.  234. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  145 

ure  from  the  normal  structure  of  the  flower  exists,  it  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  restraint,  or  the  diversion,  of  its  natural  activity. 
Cavanilles,  the  Spanish  botanist,  conceived  the  thought  of 
literally  "  seeing  grass  grow,"  by  ingeniously  adjusting  his 
instruments,  at  one  time  to  the  tip  of  the  shoot  of  a  Bambusa, 
at  another,  to  that  of  the  fast-growing  flowering  stem  of  an 
American  aloe.  And  who  can  doubt  that,  with  our  sight 
preternaturally  sharpened,  and  the  integuments  of  plants  made 
transparent,  we  should  see  ceaseless  motion  in  every  tissue 
and  every  cell  of  the  "  germinating,  leaf-pushing,  flower-un- 
folding, organisms"  of  the  great  vegetable  covering  of  the 
earth. 

VI. 

Development.  —  According  to  another  law,  the  same  proper- 
ties or  characteristics  which  existed  in  the  preceding  stage  are 
here  found  to  he  not  only  brought  on  to  the  present,  hut  to  he  in  a 
more  advanced  condition. 

1.  Here  every  law  seems  double,  or  to  have  a  counterpart. 
The  vital  power,  as  we  have  seen,  is  subject  to  the  law  of 
gravity ;  but  while  the  plant  tends  downwards,  it  rises  up- 
wards too.  The  same  power  includes  the  mechanical  forces 
producing  motion ;  but  it  has  the  twofold  force  of  attracting 
and  repelling  at  the  same  point.  It  is  also  chemical,  changing 
the  nature  of  the  substance  on  which  it  acts  ;  but  it  also  sup- 
ports itself  by  the  change.  It  exhibits  afiinity ;  but  to  affinity 
it  adds  assimilation.  Not  only  has  it  forms  of  symmetry,  and 
forms,  some  of  which  do  not  appear  possible  to  crystals,  (as  the 
pentagonal)  ;  but  wliile  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the 
crystal  the  form  depends  on  the  matter,  in  organic  symmetry 
the  matter  appears  to  be  subordinated  to  form.  It  has  activi- 
ty, but,  beyond  this,  it  supports  its  activity  by  its  action,  in- 
creases its  strength  by  exercise.  Owing  to  its  superiority  over 
all  the  pre-existing  powers  of  nature  it  is,  that  during  its  pres- 
ence in  the  organized  structure  it  holds  them  all  in  subjection. 
And  hence,  the  vital  principle  no  sooner  secedes,  than  these 
ordinary  laws  return,  dissolve  the  structure,  and  cause  the 
separated  parts  to  enter  into  new  combinations,  distinct  from 
those  under  which  they  had  existed  as  a  living  body. 

2.  And  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  different  plant-cells 
possess  different  powers  in  this  respect.  With  little  more  than 
the  four  elementary  bodies  —  carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen,  and 

13 


146  THE    PRE-AD AMITE   EARTH. 

nitrogen,  they  are  found  to  elaborate  an  almost  endless  series 
of  what  are  called  "  proximate  organic  principles  "  of  the  most 
diverse  properties  ;  one  cell  secreting  one  princi23le,  and 
another,  another  principle,  by  simply  combining  these  ele- 
ments in  slightly  different  proportions.  Here,  again,  is  the  bi- 
nary principle  of  inorganic  union ;  but  here  is  also  a  form  of 
union  entirely  unknown  in  that  division  of  science.  Instead 
of  combinations  by  pairs,  here  are  thi-ee  or  four  substances 
bound  up  together  into  a  single  group  —  a  set  of  ternary  and 
quaternary  compounds  —  constituting  one  indivisible  whole, 
and  exhibiting  properties  before  unknown.  Nor,  in  many 
cases,  can  the  stamp  imparted  to  these  properties,  of  their  vital 
origin,  be  easily  eifaced  by  any  means  employed  to  destroy  it.i 
3.  But  this  superiority  of  organic  nature  involves  other 
points  of  distinction  with  which  there  is  nothing  in  inorganic 
nature  to  compare.  The  vital  principle  includes  excitability. 
We  are  aware  that  certain  phenomena  exhibited  by  plants 
have  by  some  been  regarded  as  proofs  of  the  presence  of  irri- 
tability also,  and  even  of  sensibility.  But  as  they  appear  tc 
have  nothing  analogous  to  a  nervous  system,  these  phenomena 
seem  to  be  only  instances  of  the  extreme  action  of  excitabili- 
ty ;  by  which  we  mean,  generally,  that  property  of  the  cellular 
tissue  —  the  chief  organ  of  nutrition  —  which  "takes  cogni- 
zance of  the  action  of  external  influences  upon  it,  and  by  which 
it  resists  those  mechanical  and  chemical  efforts  which  would 
otherwise  soon  succeed  in  decomposing  its  substance."  2  And 
even  when  the  mystery  of  life  closes  in  the  mystery  of  death, 
it  is  only  the  death  of  the  individual  structure  we  are  called  to 
witness.  The  living  plant  includes  the  mystery  of  propaga- 
tion —  the  power  of  self-multiplication  during  life,  and  of  con- 
tinued reproduction  after  death.  Were  it  our  object,  then,  to 
distinguish  between  the  inorganic  and  organic  parts  of  nature 
briefly  and  broadly,  we  might  say,  that  wjiile  the  former  origi- 
nate fortuitously,  enlarge  externally,  and  are  terminated  by 
mechanical  or  chemical  force,  the  latter  originate  by  propaga- 
tion, grow  by  an  internal  power  of  assimilation,  and  terminate 
by  death. 

*  See  Fownes'  Chemistry,  &c.,  p.  41. 
^  Jlenslow's  Botany,  p.  161. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  147 


VII. 


Relations. —  The  harmony  of  the  plant  with  the  conditioner 
of  its  existence  is,  necessary,  because,  according  to  another  of 
our  laws,  everything  is  related.  Were  the  cmtinuance  of  the. 
vegetable  s^Decies  independent  of  the  reprodimive  process,  or 
reproduction  independent  of  nutrition,  or  were  one  organ  inde- 
pendent of  another,  that  compliance  with  law  and  order  of 
which  we  have  spoken  would  of  course  be  unnecessary.  Were 
botany  unconnected  with  liglit,  and  air,  and  moisture,  and  heat, 
all  these  elements  might  depart,  and  yet  leave  a  flourishing 
vegetable  creation  behind.  It  is  because  each  plant  is  related 
to  the  whole  by  an  appointment  of  the  Creator  never  to  be  re- 
pealed, that  every  change  in  its  external  condition,  and  in 
its  organization,  involves  a  corresponding  change  in  its  well- 
being. 

1.  Relations  are  traceable  between  the  various  species  of 
the  subterraneous  Flora  and  the  co-existing  conditions  of  inor- 
ganic nature.  Not,  indeed,  —  and,  as  we  have  already  re- 
marked, the  difference  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  —  not  that 
there  is  any  evidence  that  a  change  of  inorganic  conditions  ne- 
cessitates the  production  of  new  forms  of  organic  life,  (as  if 
these  conditions  were  independent  causes,)  but  that  the  produc- 
tion of  such  new  forms  of  Hfe  presupposes  a  corresponding 
change  of  inorganic  conditions. 

2.  Internal  relations  are  also  traceable;  or  corresponden- 
cies between  the  various  parts  of  the  vegetable  creation.  Type 
is  the  very  term  which  NaturaHsts  have  chosen  to  express  tliis 
resemblance.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  when  speaking  of 
crystals,  we  remarked  that  their  forms  suggested  the  idea  of 
likeness  or  resemblance.  We  may  expect,  then,  that  in  or- 
ganic bodies  also  we  shaU  find  this  analogy,  and  something  else 
in  addition.  And  we  do  so ;  we  find  resemblance  of  nature 
and  habits.  Now  this  is  the  difference  in  natural  history  be- 
tween analogy  and  affinity :  analogy  is  superficial  resemblance, 
affinity  is  resemblance  of  internal  structure,  properties,  and 
habits.  But  in  order  to  ascertain  the  affinity  of  organic  bodies, 
the  relative  importance  of  the  different  parts  compared  must 
be  determined;  as,  for  example,  whether  resemblance  between 
the  organs  of  nutrition  in  two  species  is  to  reckon  for  more 
than  resemblance  between  the  organs  of  reproduction,  or  for 
less.  The  number  of  affinities  present,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  an  equivalent  for  the  absence  of  other  affinilies,  must  b(j 


148  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

settled.  Now  when  these  laws  of  classification  are  ascertained, 
a  type  or  specimen  is  to  be  taken,  and  the  question  asked, 
"  which  approaches  the  nearest  to  it  in  all  the  affinities  which 
characterize  the  class ;  and  which  the  nearest  to  this,  and  so 
on."  The  rest^  will  be,  the  formation  of  a  natural  group 
around  the  chMcteristic  type.  This  will  not  be  found  to 
form  a  direct  or  linear  series,  answering  to  the  figure  of  a 
chain,  or  of  a  cone  of  being,  to  a  circular,  quinary,  or  dichoto- 
mous  system,  or  to  any  precise  artificial  arrangement.  It  may 
form  a  figure  very  irregular  at  its  circumference,  for  it  seeks 
no  boundary  line  without ;  it  enlarges  from  the  central  type. 
And  as  it  ramifies  in  various  directions,  its  continuity  may  be 
that  of  a  branching  tree.  But  so  evident  is  its  continuity,  that 
the  attempt  at  natural  classification  can  hardly  be  begun  be- 
fore the  mind  becomes  impressed  with  the  firm  persuasion  that 
analogy  and  affinity  reign  throughout  —  that  the  whole  botani- 
cal kingdom  is  constructed  on  a  plan. 

3.  From  the  all-related  nature  of  organic  forms,  it  follows, 
also,  that  a  modification  of  any  one  part  of  a  plant  supposes 
the  modification  of  every  other  part.  And,  accordingly,  it  is 
found  that  a  change  of  one  organic  function  involves  a  corres- 
ponding change  of  the  whole  body. 

vm. 

Order.  —  But,  according  to  another  of  our  principles,  every 
law  will  be  found  to  have  its  order,  and  may  he  expected  to 
come  into  operation  on  each  individual  subject  of  it,  according  to 
its  priority  of  date  in  the  great  system  of  creation.  Thus,  at  the 
moment  of  separation  from  the  parent  plant,  the  seed  tends  to 
the  earth  hy  gravitation.  The  chemical  conditions  requisite  for 
germination  —  moisture,  oxygen,  and  a  certain  elevation  of 
temperature  —  must  next  be  satisfied.  Having  imbibed  "  mois- 
ture through  its  integuments,  the  embryo  swells,  the  radicle 
protrudes  and  tends  downwards;"  the  plumule,  or  terminal 
bud,  expands  and  rises  upwards ;  in  other  words,  the  law  of 
developed  symmetry  obtains.  Taking  firm  hold  of  the  earth, 
it  commences  its  own  independent  existence ;  its  conservative 
functions  come  into  play  in  orderly  succession ;  all  of  which 
combine  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  higher  and  orderly  pro- 
cesses of  reproduction,  by  which  its  species  will  be  continued 
after  its  own  individual  existence  shall  have  ceased.  Here  are 
"  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the 


•  ORGANIC    LIFE.  149 

ear."    The  order  of  the  progression-  is  fixed,  and  no  power  but 
His  who  appointed  it  can  reverse  it. 

IX. 

Injluence.  —  It  is  to  be  expected  that  everything  will  bring  in 
it,  and  with  it,  in  its  own  capahility  of  subserving  the  end,  a 
reason  why  all  other  things  should  be  injiuenced  by  it ;  a  reason 
for  the  degree  in  which  they  should  be  influenced  by  it ;  and  for 
the  degree,  in  which  it,  in  its  turn,  should  be  influenced  by 
everything  else.  If  the  powers  of  inorganic  nature  are  to  be 
ranged  according  to  their  activity  and  energy,  or  their  capa- 
bility of  producing  changes,  it  will  yet  be  found  that  the  most 
powerful  are  themselves  susceptible  of  change.  Action  and 
reaction  pervade  the  physical  system,  and  are  essential  to  its 
stability.  For  organic  nature,  all  this  action  and  reaction  is 
"  taken  into  account,"  calculated,  and  employed.  The  intro- 
duction of  a  single  plant  would  have  changed  the  relations  of 
the  whole.  Its  most  wonderful  property  is  the  power  which  it 
possesses  of  influencing  chemical  action,  and  of  thus  secreting 
and  preparing  its  own  food,  and  securing  its  own  growth.  But 
wliile  thus  aifecting  everything  external  to  itself,  it  is  also 
modified  by  the  very  properties  which  it  changes.  While  the 
leaf  is  decomposing  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere,  appro- 
priating the  carbon  to  the  formation  of  its  own  proper  juices, 
and  returning  the  disengaged  oxygen  into  the  atmosphere,  its 
own  vital  powers  are  affected  by  the  quantity  of  carbonic  acid 
which  may  happen  to  be  present  in  the  atmosphere  —  a  fact, 
belonging  to  a  class,  suggestive  of  the  difficult,  but  momentous 
truth,  that  human  character  is  at  once  a  constitution  and  a  for- 
mation ;  a  subjective  power,  at  once  modifying,  and  modified 
by,  objective  influences. 


X. 

Subordination. —  Again,  we  find  that  every  laAv  subordinate 
in  rank,  though  it  may  have  been  prior  in  its  origin,  is  subject 
to  each  higher  law  of  the  Manifestation. 

1.  Accordingly,  the  productions  of  power  are  found  to  be 
subservient  to  the  exercise  of  msdom  —  the  inorganic  sustains 
the  organic  world.  And  not  only  so ;  it  is  prepared  for  its 
office  by  a  process.  It  is  subordinated  by  decomposition.  No 
single  earth,  nor  even  a  couiposition  of  two  earths,  is  fertile. 
11)* 


150  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTh! 

The  union  of  at  least  three  —  lime,  silica,  and  alumina,  is  in- 
dispensable to  fertility.  For  this  the  granite  is  decomposed, 
and  the  matter  deposited  by  rivers  in  the  bottom  of  valleys. 
And  to  this,  every  revolution  and  commingling  of  the  strata  of 
the  ancient  earth  has  been  made  subservient. 

2.  But  this  subordination  is  continuous,  extending  into  the 
vegetable  kingdom  itself.  Chemical  and  mechanical  action 
almost  fails  to  convert  some  rocks  (as  quartz)  into  soil.  Yet 
not  the  less  are  these  rocks  made  subservient  to  vegetable  life. 
Here,  where  no  other  plants  would  exist,  the  Creator  has 
placed  the  multitudinous  and  inexplicable  tribe  of  lichens  — 
"the  pioneers  of  vegetation."  These  prepare  the  way  for  the 
mosses ;  and  these,  again,  for  other  plants  superior  still ;  each 
retiring  in  succession,  when  it  has  contributed  by  its  own  life 
and  death  to  place  a  better  race  on  the  spot ;  till  at  length  the 
stately  tree  waves  where  once  nothing  but  the  apparently  root- 
less, leafless,  flowerless  lichen  could  exist. 

3.  And  this  law  of  subordination  is  found  to  descend  to  the 
physiology  of  the  individual  plant.  The  organs  of  conversa- 
tion are  subservient  to  the  organs  of  reproduction,  the  individ- 
ual to  the  species.  Though  unconscious  of  a  purpose,  no  plant 
lives  to  itself  In  some  tribes,  the  constitution  and  cares  of 
the  parent  plant  appear  to  be  concentrated  on  this  point,  as  on 
the  end  of  its  existence.  The  tribes  of  annuals  die  as  soon 
as  this  end  is  answered.  Others,  in  a  sense,  refuse  to  die,  till 
they  have  answered  it. 

4.  The  same  subordination  obtains  among  the  individual  or- 
gans.- "  God  hath  set  the  members  every  one  of  them  in  the 
body  as  it  hath  pleased  Him."  And  though  no  organ  is  use- 
less,  their  value  is  graduated;  and  hence,  a  leaf,  having  an- 
swered its  end,  may  fall  off  without  any  injury  to  the  plant. 

5.  But  then  this  subordination  of  one  organ  to  another,  of 
plant  to  plant,  and  of  inorganic  matter  to  the  whole,  lastr 
only  as  long  as  the  plant  continues  to  live.  By  death,  it  lose; 
its  status  in  the  ascending  rank  of  creation,  and  becomes  sub 
ject  to  the  ordinary  inorganic  laws. 

XI. 

Uniformity. — Profound  as  the  subject  of  life  is,  all  its  opera- 
Hons  will  he  found  to  he  impressed  with  the  regularity  of  genera\ 
laws.  On  this  condition  alone  can  we  hope  to  ascertain  ir& 
operations,  and  mark  the  wisdom  which  they  evince.     Now 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  151 

the  actual  existence  of  such  regularity  is  implied  in  the  remarks 
we  have  already  advanced.  The  vital  principle,  once  superin- 
duced by  the  Living  God,  acts,  according  to  His  appointment, 
and  under  His  superintendence,  with  constancy  and  certainty. 
True  it  is,  that  in  studying  organic  life  we  find  ourselves  for 
the  first  time  in  the  regions  of  mutual  adaptations ;  and  that 
the  writer  on  systematic  botany  is  obliged  to  indite  a  chapter 
of  anomalies. 

Unlike  the  law  of  chemical  affinity,  which  requires  that  the 
compound  be  in  definite  proportions,  we  find  that  Life  asserts 
its  freedom  and  its  power  by  dispensing  with  this  chemical  ex- 
actness. But  even  this  freedom  is  only  within  certain  limits, 
or  is  bounded  by  law.  This  power  of  adaptation  is  according  to 
particular  rules,  which  are  all  ranged  under  a  general  rule.  It 
is  a  law  unto  itself.  For  example :  —  Oxygen  is  indispensable 
to  the  germination  of  seeds;  where  it  is  entirely  wanting,  as 
in  distilled  water,  they  will  not  germinate ;  while,  if  acted  on 
by  more  than  a  certain  proportion,  they  will  be  over-stimulated. 
But  let  them  have  about  the  right  proportion  —  one  part  of 
oxygen  with  three  .of  azote,  and  they  will  germinate  accord- 
ingly. The  general  law  cannot  be  violated ;  while  the  power 
of  adaptation  by  which  the  seed  is  adjusted  to  the  circumstances 
is  itself  regulated  by  the  universal  law  which  measures  the 
cause  by  the  effect,  and  which  determines  that  its  action  shall 
be  always  the  same  in  the  same  circumstances.  And  as  no 
comj)liance  with  the  other  conditions  of  germination  will  com- 
pensate for  the  want  of  the  necessary  oxygen,  so  no  supply  of 
this  alone  will  atone  for  the  absence  of  the  other  conditions 
of  germination.  Its  constitution  is  defined  by  laws  which  must 
be  complied  with. 

These  laws,  indeed,  must  not  be  confounded  with  causes. 
The  life  of  the  plant  presupposes  the  organization  which  the 
Creator  has  been  pleased  to  make  a  necessary  condition  ;  this 
condition,  however,  is  not  the  cause  of  its  vitality,  but  only  the 
means  of  its  manifestation.  And  organization  presupposes 
certain  inorganic  conditions;  but  these  conditions  are  not  the 
cause  of  it ;  they  are  only  employed  and  subordinated  to  or- 
ganic ends.  All  that  we  recognise,  in  either  case,  is  the  law 
or  rule  according  to  which  the  organic  and  the  inorganic  are 
made  to  act ;  the  cause  of  that  action  is  entirely  distinct. 


152  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

xn. 

Obligation. —  Organic  life  exists  under  an  obligation  to  pro- 
mote the  end  of  creation,  commensurate  with  its  means  and  rela- 
tions. Of  course,  the  only  sense  in  which  obligation  can  be 
predicated  of  the  organic  scheme  is  similar  to  that  in  which, 
like  the  inorganic,  it  is  said  to  be  governed  by  laws.  The  laws 
themselves  suppose  an  agent ;  for  they  only  express  the  mode 
in  which  he  acts,  the  order  according  to  which  he  proceeds. 
And  as  that  agent  is  no  other,  can  be  no  other,  than  the  Law- 
giver himself,  the  obHgation  of  which  we  speak  can  be  only 
the  necessity  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  incur,  to  operate  in 
a  certain  manner  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  a  certain  end. 
Having  voluntarily  determined  on  a  given  end,  the  adoption 
of  the  necessary  means  becomes  obligatory  ;  and  as  the  means 
of  which  we  are  now  speaking  are  merely  organic  existences, 
whatever  obligation  there  is  can  rest  only  on  a  power  external 
to  themselves,  the  Power  that  employs  them. 

XTTT. 

Well-being. —  In  accordance  with  another  of  our  laws,  we 
find  that  the  well-being  of  the  plant  depends  on  its  conformity 
to  the  laivs  of  its  constitution. 

1.  Thus,  in  relation  to  the  internal  economy  of  vegetable 
life,  let  the  process  of  reproduction  fail,  and  the  species  ceases 
to  exist.  Let  the  organs  of  nutrition  be  obstructed,  and  the 
individual  fails.  Let  the  development  of  the  plant  be  arrested, 
and  deformity  ensues ;  remove  the  impediment,  and,  if  done 
in  time,  the  dormant  power  of  expansion  awakes,  and  the  de- 
velopment of  the  body  is  completed.  And  as  to  the  external 
relations  of  vegetable  life,  the  range  of  most  plants  —  as  to 
climate,  for  example  —  is  very  limited.  If  the  average  tem- 
perature adapted  to  the  various  families  of  plants  were  to  vary 
as  much  as  five  degrees,  they  would,  with  their  present  consti- 
tutions, speedily  suffer,  languish  and  die.  From  first  to  last, 
the  life  of  the  plant  depends  on  the  maintenance  of  a  definite 
adjustment  between  its  constitution  and  external  influences. 
Compliance  with  the  conditions  of  its  existence  is  indispensa- 
ble to  its  well-being. 

2.  In  this  stage  of  creation,  still  more  than  in  the  preceding, 
the  idea  of  perfection  is  forcibly  suggested.  In  this  domain  of 
resemblances,  we  seek  a  type  with  which  to  compare  analogous 
objects;  and  that  type  we  select  from  among  the  most  perfect 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  153 

objects  of  its  kind.  Partly  from  finding  that  one  specimen  is 
better  tlian  another,  the  mind  erects  an  ideal  standard  of  ex- 
cellence with  which  to  compare  everything  comparable.  But 
by  this  standard  no  specimen  is  absolutely  perfect.  No  two 
roses,  for  example,  have  ever  been  entirely,  in  every  property 
and  particular,  alike  ;  so  that  no  two  have  ever  stood  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  relations  to  the  ideal  standard.  Even  the 
individual  flower  which  has  approached  the  nearest  to  ideal 
perfection  has  fallen  short  of  it.  Some  slight  difference  in 
itself,  or  in  its  circumstances  —  a  difference  inappreciable  by 
man,  would  have  been  followed  by  a  real,  though  equally  in- 
appreciable difference  in  its  claim  to  perfection.  Its  a])proach 
to  that  standard  is  the  measure  of  its  harmony  with  the  pre- 
scribed laws  of  its  being. 


XIV. 

Analogy. —  We  have  already  found,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
that  this  second,  or  botanic,  stage  of  creation,  is  constructed  ac- 
cording to  a 'plan. 

1.  We  have  seen  that  it  is,  in  all  its  mineral  and  chemical 
elements,  in  complicated  harmony  with  the  first,  and  dependent 
on  it.  Either  the  inorganic  stage  was  preconfigured  to  the 
organic,  or  the  latter  was  entirely  configured  to  the  former. 
This  correspondence  extends  even  to  that  symmetry,  or  definite 
relation  of  form  and  number,  which  obtains  first  in  crystallog- 
raphy. For  while  there  are  some  kinds  of  symmetry  common 
among  flowers,  which  are  unknown  to  crystals  —  such  as  the 
pentagonal,  there  are  other  kinds,  such  as  the  trigonal,  which 
prevail  in  both,  and  which  externally  unite  them  together. 

2.  The  various  parts  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  also  in 
harmony  with  each  other.  Indeed,  no  one  family  of  plants 
could  be  naturally  arranged,  except  as  part  of  a  natural  class- 
ification of  all  plants.  Now  the  symmetry  to  which  reference 
is  here  made,  involves  numerical  properties  whicli  afford  a 
basis  for  such  botanical  classification.  For  it  is  found  that  the 
number  three  is  the  ground  of  the  symmetry  of  monocotyle- 
donous  plants,  and  the  number  ^"^;e  of  dicotyledonous  plants, 
the  numerical  distinction  harmonizing  with,  or  expressing  itself 
by,  a  leading  difference  of  physiological  structure. 

o.  The  various  parts  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  regarded  as 
successively  existent,  not  only  do  not  derange  the  plan  which 
classifies  existing  species,  but  seem  necessary  in  order  to  com- 


154  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

plete  it.  The  large  calamities  of  the  coal  formation  take  their 
place  in  the  existing  family  of  equisetacete.  The  fossil  lepido- 
dendra  of  gigantic  stature,  are  intermediate  between  living 
lycopodiaceaj  and  coniferce.  And  even  the  extinct  sigillaria?, 
of  which  no  living  representatives  exist,  find,  as  far  as  the 
details  of  their  organization  are  known,  a  definite  place  among 
existing  families.  Li  the  Flora  of  the  secondary  series,  the 
leading  feature  consists  in  the  prevailing  presence  of  cycadeci2. 
Now,  of  this  family,  the  cycas  revoluta  exhibits  an  important 
physiological  peculiarity,  by  which  it  forms  a  characteristic 
link  between  the  living  and  fossil  cycadeas,  while  the  existing 
cycadeag  can  be  shown  to  connect  together  the  great  cone-beai^- 
ing  family  with  the  famihes  of  palms  and  ferns,  and  thus  to 
occupy  an  intermediate  station  between  the  three  great  natural 
divisions  of  plants.  And,  speaking  generally,  the  plants  of 
the  secondary  series  exhibit  characters  of  an  intermediate  kind, 
between  the  insular  Flora  of  the  transition  series,  and  the  con- 
tinental vegetation  of  the  tertiary  strata. 

3.  In  addition  to  the  evidence  of  a  plan  which  arises  from 
this  constant  adherence  to  a  determined  class  ofprimitive  types, 
and  to  the  consequent  reduction  of  every  species  to  its  approj^ri- 
ate  place  in  the  great  system,  there  is  the  remarkable  fact  of 
the  existence  of  apparently  abortive,  yet  always  symmetrical, 
parts  in  plants.  Botanical  physiologists  "  find  parts  existing  in 
a  rudimentary  or  abortive  state  in  one  species,  which  in  others 
serve  some  manifestly  important  design."  In  this  rudimentary 
state,  they  seem  to  exist  only  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  the 
idea  of  symmetrical  arrangement,  and  of  inviting  and  facihtat- 
ing  classification.  And  "  it  must  be  considered  an  additional 
proof  of  arrangement,  when,  as  in  many  instances,  we  are  able 
to  show  that  they  become  subservient  to  a  new  purpose,  by 
being  unfitted  to  their  primary  one."^ 

4.  Classification.  —  Now,  according  to  our  theory,  the 
true  system  of  botanical  classification  is  that  which  arranges 
the  relationship  of  plants  according  to  the  order  of  progressive 
nature,  taken  in  connection  with  the  relative  importance  of  the 
progressive  steps.  Thus,  beginning  with  me(;lianical  properties, 
as  those  of  the  lowest  value,  we  ascend  to  those  of  chemical 
affinity;  to  symmetry,  or  relations  of  form  and  number  ;  then 
to  the  organs  of  nutrition,  each  organ  rising  in  value  as  the 
process  advances ;  and,  finally,  to  the  organs  of  reproduction, 
as  of  the  highest  value ;  ^—  the  relationship  being  nearest  where 

'  Dr.  Daubeny's  Inaugural  Lecture  on  Botany,  p.  24. 


,  ORGANIC    LIFE.  155 

the  affinity  lies  between  those  characteristics  which  are  of  tlie 
highest  vakie. 

5.  This  metliod,  1,  so  far  from  arbitrarily  selecting  any  one 
part  of  the  plant  as  the  basis  of  arrangement,  —  as  the  corolla, 
by  Tournefort ;  or  the  stamen  and  pistils,  by  Linnajus,  —  re- 
quires a  minute  investigation  of  every  part  and  property.  Its 
peculiarities  of  chemical  composition,  the  "  proximate  princi- 
ples" which  distinguish  it,  as  well  as  its  geographical  and  climatic 
relations,  are  all  to  be  taken  into  the  account.  2.  Although  it 
assigns  the  highest  value  to  a  particular  function,  it  by  no  means 
follows  that  such  principle  is  to  be  universally  the  basis  of 
arrangement ;  inasmuch  as  resemblance,  in  this  particular,  may 
be  outweighed  in  some  families  of  plants,  by  a  combination  of 
characteristic  differences  in  other  particulars.  The  law  of  the 
subordination  of  characters  is  itself  subject  to  a  more  compre- 
hensive law,  which  takes  cognizance  of  the  entire  scale  of  their 
values,  and  divides  and  combines  them  according  to  the  rela- 
tion of  those  characters.  3.  As  an  organic  body  is  all-related, 
so  that  a  change  in  one  part  of  its  constitution  involves  a  cor- 
responding change  in  every  other  part,  our  method  supposes 
that  an  arrangement  correctly  formed  on  one  function  will  har- 
monize with  an  arrangement  correctly  formed  on  another 
function.  4.  Our  method  provides,  not  only  for  the  formation 
of  groups,  but  also  of  series  of  groups,  ranging  according  to 
organic  perfection.  The  distinction  between  the  cellular  class, 
lichens,  algas,  &c.,  without  sexes,  flowers,  or  spiral  vessels,  and 
the  vascular  class,  is  obvious.  And  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  the  physiology  of  the  latter  class  would,  doubtless, 
enable  us  to  range  all  its  species  in  the  order  of  their  ascending 
organization. 

6.  The  multiplication  of  the  paints  of  agreement  which  the 
organic  kingdom  presents  as  compared  with  the  inorganic,  pre- 
pares us  to  expect  an  increase  of  such  points  with  every  ad- 
vancing stage  of  creation ;  and,  consequently,  an  increasing 
power  of  testing  the  truth  of  our  classifications. 


XV. 

Contingent.  —  According  to  another  of  our  laws,  we  may 
expect  to  find  that  this  new  department  of  organic  life  exhibits 
marks  of  its  contingency^  or  dependence  on  the  sovereign  will  of 
the  Divine  Oreator  In  the  section  corresjjonding  to  this,  in 
the  preceding  part,  v/e  saw  the  cosmical  and  terj-estrial  arrange- 


156  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ments  taking  law  directly  from  the  will  of  God.  Here  the 
illus-trations  of  the  Creative  Will  are  still  further  multiplied  in 
the  constitutions  and  j^roperties  of  organic  forms. 

1.  For  example  :  there  is  in  plants  a  cycle  of  functions 
requiring  about  365  days.  There  is  a  lesser  cycle,  or  alterna- 
tion, requiring  about  twenty-four  hours.  There  is  a  measured 
force  in  the  motion  of  the  sap  of  every  flower ;  and  there  is 
an  appointed  degree  of  stiffness  in  the  stalk.  Now  there  is  no 
inherent  necessity  whatever,  in  the  plant  itself,  why  it  should 
have  these  particular  cycles,  alternations,  and  forces,  and  no 
others.  We  can  conceive  them  increased  or  diminished  to 
any  degree.  But  these  exact  phenomena  and  no  others,  it 
may  be  said,  are  made  necessary  by  the  previous  conditions 
of  the  earth,  of  which  they  have  come  to  form  a  part.  Un- 
questionably, the  first  peculiarity  is  adapted  to  the  annual  mo- 
tion of  the  earth,  the  second  to  its  diurnal  revolution,  and  the 
third  and  fourth  to  the  mass  of  the  earth.  But,  we  have  shown 
that  this  motion,  revolution,  and  mass,  were  themselves  origi- 
nally dependent  on  the  Divine  appointment.  Whether,  there- 
fore, we  regard  inorganic  nature  as  preconfigured  to  the  pre- 
ordained constitution  of  organic  life,  or  the  organic  constitution 
as  adapted  to  the  pre-existing  plan  of  inorganic  nature,  we 
have  alike  a  twofold  proof  of  the  exercise  of  a  Designing  WilL 

2.  True,  the  farther  we  remove  from  the  first  stage  of  the 
Creative  process,  the  less  manifest  becomes  the  direct  inter- 
vention of  the  Creating  Will  in  the  subsequent  stages,  and  the 
less  marked  the  direct  dependence  of  the  things  created.  This 
second  stage,  for  example,  from  being  adjusted  and  made  to  fit 
into  the  first,  appears  to  some  as  if  it  were  directly  and  en- 
tirely derived  from  it.  He  who  is  admitted  to  have  origin- 
ated the  first,  is  supposed  to  have  less  to  do  with  the  second, 
just  because,  in  His  all-comprehending  plans,  the  organic  is 
made  to  presuppose  the  inorganic.  The  first,  from  being  made 
a  mere  condition  of  the  second,  is  in  danger  of  being  promoted 
into  the  place  of  the  great  originating  Cause. 

3.  Even  if  vegetable  life  could  be  shown  to  be  a  necessary 
development  of  material  elements  merely,  still,  as  no  one  who 
admits  that  the  laws  of  matter  were  derived  from  God,  would 
deny  that  He  foresaw  all  the  developments  and  results  of  which 
these  laws  were  capable,  and  therefore  foresaw  their  develop- 
ment in  organic  life  as  one  of  those  results,  such  development 
must  be  held  to  furnish  a  new  illustration  of  His  manifold 
design  in  the  creation  of  matter.     The  illustration  only  takes 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  157 

a  different  date.  And  this,  let  me  restate,  is  a  sufficient  reply 
to  those  who,  admitting  the  Divine  origination  of  nature,  would 
have  every  subsequent  stage  to  be  a  mere  natural  develop- 
ment ;  partly,  on  the  ground  of  saving  the  Divine  dignity  from 
the  supposed  trouble  or  unworthiness  of  a  more  direct  interpo- 
sition. For  this  view,  besides  involving  an  antln-opomorphic 
misapprehension  of  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Greatness,  inijjlies 
that  it  may  be  worthy  of  the  Deity  to  devise  a  law  in  eternity, 
which  yet  it  would  be  unworthy  of  Him  to  carry  into  effect  in 
time  ;  and  thus  overlooks  the  fact,  that  in  relieving  the  Deity 
from  an  act  of  immediate  creation,  it  does  so  by  supposing  that 
He  has  yet  from  eternity  designed  and  contemplated  the  results 
of  such  a  creation. 

4.  But  the  idea  of  a  natural  and  necessary  development  of 
matter,  is  a  mere  assumption.  While  the  fact  of  the  Divine 
origination  of  matter,  at  first,  is  itself  a  strong  presumption  in 
favor  of  the  Divine  origination  of  every  new  use  subsequently 
made  of  it.  Li  accordance  with  which,  we  find  that  fossil 
vegetation  exhibits  no  indication  of  a  regular  development  of 
species  from  the  most  simple  onwards  to  the  most  perfect. 
The  dycotyledon  of  the  present  day  is  not  derived  from  the 
rudimentary  acotyledon  of  the  palaezoic  series  ;  even  then  they 
grew  together  side  by  side.  Nor  has  the  rudimentary  vege- 
table of  that  day  been  absorbed  in  higher  forms,  and  gone  out 
of  existence ;  it  exists,  unchanged,  by  the  side  of  the  ancient 
dicotyledon.  The  vegetable  kingdom  of  the  early  carbonifer- 
ous group,  requires  to  be  distributed  into  three  classes ;  nor 
does  the  botany  of  the  present  day  require  a  fourth  class. 
Even  from  that  early  period,  the  plan,  or  outline,  of  vegetable 
life  had  been  laid  down  by  the  Designing  Will. 

5.  Such  direct  creative  interposition  is  to  be  inferred  also 
from  the  ground  there  is  to  believe  that  plants  have  a  charac- 
ter of  their  own,  more  or  less  independent  of  mere  external 
influences.  That  they  are  related  to  all  the  great  pre-exist- 
ing laws  and  elements  of  inorganic  nature,  we  have  shown; 
but,  according  to  the  views  of  the  best  botanical  writers,  they 
have  characteristics  which  no  external  forces  can  account  for, 
and  which  can  be  ascribed  only  to  independent  laws.i  "  De- 
ciduous plants,  when  carried  across  the  equator,  will  put  forth 
leaves  at  the  approach  of  winter ;  evidently  because  it  is  their 
habit  so  to  do  after  settled  intervals  of  time.     In  the  experi- 

'  Decandolle's  Physiologic,  vol.  ii.  478. 
14' 


158  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

ments  made  by  Decandolle  on  this  subject,  it  was  found  that 
some  plants  kept  their  habits,  without  regarding  either  the 
arti^cial  light  or  heat  to  which  they  were  subjected.  And  it 
is  admitted  to  be  among  "  the  unsatisfied  problems  of  geology" 
to  account  for  "  the  uniformity  of  the  types  of  organic  life 
over  great  areas,  accompanied  as  it  was  by  considerable  diver- 
sity of  local  association.''^  Great  as  is  the  power  of  plants  to 
adapt  themselves  to  external  changes,  they  have  laws  and  a 
constitution  of  their  own.  Stimulated  they  may  be,  but  not 
forced.  In  their  creation,  a  principle  was  superadded  to  all 
that  had  gone  before,  subjecting  matter  to  itself,  but  not  to  be 
subjected  by  it. 

6.  And  is  not  the  same  direct  interposition  to  bQ  inferred 
from  the  apparent  want  of  correspondence  observable  between 
the  inorganic  conditions  of  existence,  and  the  organic  exist- 
ences themselves  ?  That  the  appearance  of  organic  life  has 
been  made  by  the  Creator  to  depend  on  certain  inorganic  con- 
ditions, we  hold  to  be  a  point  settled.  But  we  submit  that  it 
is  not  consequent  on  this,  that  the  presence  of  the  mere  physi- 
cal conditions  shall  always  be  followed  by  the  presence  of  the 
life.  According  to  creation  by.  natural  development,  indeed, 
life  must  follow  the  physical  conditions,  directly,  necessarily, 
universally,  and  to  the  utmost  amount ;  for  these  conditions 
are  supposed  to  be  the  only  causes  of  life.  If  the  new  crea- 
tion did  not  invariably  follow  the  new  condition,  the  law  of 
natural  development  would  be  at  an  end ;  for  it  is  supposed  to 
act  inevitably.  And  yet  such  apparent  irregularities  do  exist. 
For  example,  some  families  of  land  plants,  as  the  coniferae 
and  the  palms,  have  pervaded  all  the  series  of  formations. 
Why  did  the  physical  conditions  of  the  secondary  series  fail  to 
reproduce  the  sigillariae,  as  they  did  the  coniferee,  both  of  which 
had  existed  together  in  the  first  series  ?  Or  what  was  there 
in  many  of  the  plants  of  the  second  series  less  suited  to  the 
temperature,  and  other  conditions  of  the  first  series,  than  in 
those  of  the  first  to  the  conditions  of  the  second,  throughout 
which  they  both  afterwards  concurrently  flourished  without 
any  apparent  deterioration  ?  While  we  believe  it  to  be  fully 
established  that  organic  life  does  not  exist,  except  in  connec- 
tion with  certain  physical  conditions,  we  believe  also  that  the 
conditions  are  not  the  causes  of  life,  and  may  exist  without  it ; 
and  that  the  Will  which  originated  the  first,  is  the  cause  of 
the  second. 

^  Mr.  Phillips,  at  British  Association.     1845. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  159 

7.  Ill  the  organic,  then,  as  well  as  in  the  inorganic  world; 
all  that  we  can  recognise  are  conditions  and  laws  ;  and  only 
some  of  these.  The  originating  cause  in  each  alike  was  the 
Divine  volition.  The  same  free  scope  which  existed  when 
matter  was  yet  to  be  created,  as  to  everything  which  related 
to  its  properties  and  arrangements,  existed  in  relation  to  the 
introduction  of  vegetable  life.  The  precise  period  of  its  com- 
mencement ;  the  plan  of  the  great  system ;  the  varieties  which 
it  should  include  ;  and  the  laws  of  its  historical  and  geographi- 
cal distribution ;  all  are  referrible  to  "  the  good  pleasure  of 
His  will,"  in  whose  purpose  it  is  allowed  to  have  originated. 

XVI. 

Ultimata.  —  If  organic  life  be  thus  dependent  on  the  will 
of  the  Creator,  we  may  expect  to  find  that  it  reveals  the  exist- 
ence of  ultimate  truths.  Accordingly,  after  all  the  inquiries 
into  the  phenomena  of  organization,  if  the  question  recurs, 
what  is  life  ?  or,  what  is  the  cause  which  produces  these  effects 
in  living  bodies  ?  or,  what  is  the  principle  which  unites  all 
these  organic  functions  in  the  single  result  called  life  ?  we  are 
as  far  as  ever  from  being  able  to  furnish  an  explanation.  We 
have  only  described  some  of  the  phenomena.  The  thing  it- 
seh'  is  indefinable. 

1.  The  organs  by  which  life  acts,  may  be  anatomically  ex- 
amined, and  correctly  classed  ;  but  life  is  something  independ- 
ent of  them  all :  for  not  one  of  them  is  universal  in  organized 
nature,  and  therefore  is  not  essential  to  the  vital  force.  The 
functions  of  these  organs  may  be  known,  and  the  chemistry  of 
their  operations  be  silently  and  perseveringly  watched;  but  the 
principle  of  that  chemistry,  the  cause  of  these  functions,  are 
meanwhile  presupposed  and  unapproached.  The  "  proximate 
organic  principles"  which  the  chemistry  of  life  produces,  and 
submits  to  our  examination,  may  be  minutely  analysed  and 
correctly  named  ;  but  they  have  been  produced  "  in  circum- 
stances which  we  cannot  imitate,  and,  in  fact,  do  not  under- 
stand." They  are,  at  best,  only  proximate  principles  ;  effects, 
which  refer  us  to  the  existence  of  a  cause,  the  nature  of  which 
they  do  not  reveal ;  their  very  number  and  diversity  not  ex- 
plaining, but  multiplying  the  mysteries  in  which  it  is  involved. 
The  little  "  nucleated  cells"  evolved  from  these  proximate 
principles,  ai^  by  the  development  of  which  the  organic  mass 
is  supposed  to  be  enlarged,  may  be  known  and  truly  describ- 


160  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

ed ;  but  this  is  something  already  existing ;  the  cause  which 
has  led  to  it  is  still  presupposed.  The  analogy  between  cer- 
tain crystalline,  and  certain  vegetable  forms,  may  be  interest- 
ing and  familiar  ;  but  if  those  crystalline  forms  be  referred  to 
electric  action,  here  is  something  wliich  deals  with  electricity, 
and  employs  it ;  or,  if  they  be  referred  to  the  form  or  quality 
of  the  ultimate  atoms,  here  is  something  which  subordinates 
both.  Organization  is,  as  we  have  seen,  not  an  affair  of  out- 
ward form  merely,  but  of  inward  structure.  Admitting  even 
the  possibility  of  the  artificial  imitation  of  some  of  the  prox- 
imate principles,  and  of  the  cells  or  globules  of  organic  life, 
still  they  are  inorganic  principles  and  globules ;  the  very  ab- 
sence of  the  vital  power  shows  that  it  is  something  distinct 
from  form  and  elementary  composition,  though  it  may  employ 
both,  and  that  these  artificial  imitations  are  not  organization. 

2.  Vegetation  involves  an  orderly  series  of  processes.  And 
all  that  the  physiologist  can  do  is  to  describe  the  results  of 
each,  and  the  order  in  which  they  occur.  Having  done  this, 
he  is  said  to  have  explained  the  subject ;  but  all  that  he  has 
done  is  to  state  what  takes  place ;  how  it  has  taken  place,  is  as 
mysterious  as  before.  He  shows  you  the  circulation  of  the 
sap,  but  the  force  which  circulates  it  is  presupposed.  He  takes 
a  flower,  and  discloses  all  that  has  taken  place  in  order  to  its 
production,  since  he  deposited  the  seed  in  the  earth ;  but  with 
that  seed  he  deposited  an  already  existing  principle  which  he 
cannot  disclose.  He  has  told  you  only  of  laws  ;  but  with  each 
law  he  has  left  a  cause  unexplained.  Like  the  astronomer 
looking  at  his  supposed  nebula,  let  the  physiologist  trace  back 
the  process  of  organization  as  far  as  he  can,  he  cannot  detect 
it  in  its  primary  state ;  he  has  to  refer  it  "  back  to  some  pre- 
vious state,  out  of  which  it  appears  to  have  emerged  imper- 
ceptibly and  explicably."  He  sees  the  phenomena  of  life  only 
after  it  has  begun  to  work.  Life  itself  is  presupposed  and 
ultimate. 

3.  Now  organic  life,  like  inorganic  matter,  is  to  be  viewed, 
first,  as  an  object,  or  in  its  relation  to  space :  and  the  question 
arises,  how  came  it  really  and  objectively  to  be  ?  What  rela- 
tion did  tlie  Divine  power  and  wisdom  bear  to  its  creation  ? 
We  may  be  able  to  describe  the  organization  in  which  life  is 
developed.  But,  having  done  this,  and  having  traced  the  or- 
ganization back  to  the  seed,  and  searched  the  very  elements  of 
the  seed  itself,  we  find  that  we  haVe  reached  an  impassable 
barrier.     It  contains  nothing  in  itself  to  account  for  its  own 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  161 

origination,  as  a  living  organific  power.  And  could  we  have 
looked  on  the  first  seed  that  germinated,  or  the  first  vegetable 
creation  that  lived,  we  should  have  felt,  instinctively,  that 
the  only  ground  of'  its  existence  must  be  the  will  of  God. 

4.  But  if  the  first  moment  of  its  existence  revealed  a  wise 
Creator ;  the  second  moment  revealed  a  Providence,  for  vegeta- 
ble life  was  seen  in  relation,  not  only  to  space,  but  also  to  time 
—  it  continued.  Organic  processes  were  constant  and  universal. 
What  was  the  Divine  relation  to  the  vital  foi'ces  implied  in  all 
this  new  kind  of  activity  ?  Here  we  come  to  ultimate  laws. 
For  in  tracing  the  sequences  of  organic  phenomena,  we  find  a 
series  of  laws,  each  of  which  is  related  to  all  the  rest ;  and  ail 
of  which  refer  us  to  a  cause  of  which  they  are  only  the  results, 
or  the  means  of  manifestation.  And  the  only  conclusion  warrant- 
ed is,  that  the  continuance  of  vegetable  life,  no  less  than  its  or- 
igination, has  its  ground  in  the  will  of  God.  We  are  as  unable 
to  conceive  of  a  self-sustained,  as  of  a  self-originated  organiza- 
tion. Dependence  is  not  less  its  characteristic,  in  relation  to 
time,  than  it  is  in  relation  to  space:  The  regularity  of  the  or- 
ganic processes,  so  far  from  denoting  the  absence  of  the  Great 
Agent,  is  the  very  circumstance  which  indicates  His  presence. 
It  is  the  only  way  in  which  we  can  conceive  of  His  agency. 
The  laws  proclaim  the  presence  of  the  Lawgiver. 

5.  Life,  then,  as  imparted  in  creation,  and  revealed  in  the 
phenomena  of  organization,  is  something  distinguishable  from 
the  phenomena  or  laws  which  reveal  it.  We  may,  indeed, 
know  nothing  of  the  vital  principle,  but  by  the  operation  of 
these  laws ;  just  as  the  properties  of  matter  as  created,  are 
disclosed  to  us  only  by  the  sequences  of  matter  as  continued. 
But,  as  the  laws  of  matter  presuppose  its  properties,  so  the 
phenomena  of  life  presuppose  the  life  which  they  reveal. 

xvn. 

Necessary  Truth. —  The  existence  of  ultimate  truth,  reminds 
us  of  the  law  which  prepares  us  to  recognise  the  existence  of 
necessary  truth. 

1.  Li  the  former  inorganic  stage,  we  saw  matter  take  pos- 
session of  space ;  and  we  saw  that,  besides  implying  the  pre- 
existence  of  space  as  a  necessary  condition,  it  implied  the 
necessary  existence  of  the  Divine  Power  both  as  condition 
and  cause.  Here,  we  see  life  take  possession  of  matter ;  and 
wc  cannot  but  feel  that  the  idea  of  a  Living  Cause  is  indispen. 
14* 


162  THE   PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

sable.  The  contrary  is  impossible.  Sucli  a  cause  might  have 
been  inferred,  indeed,  from  the  creation  of  inorganic  matter ; 
but  the  existence  of  organic  life  proclaims  and  represents  it. 

2.  In  tlie  laws  of  organic  phenomena,  too,  we  recognise 
proofs  of  the  Avisdom  of 'God.  We  see  a  vast  and  complicated 
system  of  means  employed  for  the  attainment  of  certain  ends. 
And  thus,  if  the  creation  of  organic  .life,  in  its  relation  to 
space,  imj)lies  the  necessary  existence  of  a  Living  Cause,  the 
laws  of  its  existence  as  related  to  time,  imply  the  necessary 
wisdom,  as  well  as  the  life-giving  power  of  the  Creator.  We 
cannot  but  conceive  of  that  Living  Wisdom  as  existing  prior 
to  all  objective  manifestation,  and  independently  of  it.  As 
condition,  its  activity  from  eternity  was  only  subjective  ;  as 
cause,  it  has  now  become  objective  also.  Here  then  we  have 
the  subjective  living  w^isdom,  and  the  objective  ;  for  that  which 
was  possible,  has  become  real.  The  nature  of  Him  who  is 
"  the  Life,"  begins  to  be  manifested.  Things  not  only  are,  they 
hve ;  and  live  by  means  which  give  us  a  deeper  insight  than  we 
possessed  before,  into  the  necessary  perfections  of  the  Divine 
Creator. 

xvni. 

Change. —  This  stage  of  the  Divine  procedure  not  only  pre- 
pares us  to  look  for  another,  but,  according  to  our  theory,  the 
law  of  ever-enlarging  manifestation  is  itself  regulated  by  a  law 
determining  the  time  and  manner  of  each  successive  stage  of  the 
advancing  process. 

1.  That  the  process  itself  cannot  consistently  terminate,  is 
evident ;  for  then  the  proof  of  the  Divine  sufficiency  for  un- 
hmited  manifestation  would  terminate  with  it.  That  it  was 
not  yet  to  terminate,  might  now  have  been  inferred  from  a  new 
analogical  ground ;  for  not  only  was  the  activity  of  the  inor- 
ganic universe  from  the  first  the  activity  of  progression,  but 
addition  of  vegetable  life  furnished  an  entirely  distinct  ground 
of  expectation  for  the  addition  of  yet  another  stage.  JSior  can 
we  conceive  ourselves  as  surveying  this  second  display  of  the 
Divine  resources,  without  becoming  conscious  of  the  persua- 
sion that  we  shall  "  see  greater  things  than  these,"  and  that 
these  are  intended,  in  some  way,  to  prepare  for  them. 

2.  But  what  was  it  which  made  the  time  of  the  actual 
change,  the  right  time  ?  For  here  again  1  may  remark,  that 
even  those  who  adopt  the  hypothesis  of  development  by  natu- 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  16S 

ral  law,  must  admit  that  every  stage  of  clevelopmtMit  was  pro- 
spectively included  in  the  plan  of  the  Lawgiver;  and  that  for 
the  same  reason  that  any  stage  was  designed  to  occur  at  all, 
there  must  have  been  a  right  time  for  its  occurrence,  or  a  reason 
which  made  the  period  of  its  actual  occurrence  the  right  period. 
And  the  law  with  which  we  have  now  to  do,  respects  the  nature 
of  that  reason. 

3.  Believing  that  no  such  change  takes  place  capriciously ; 
but  as  either  the  law  of  progression,  or  of  the  end,  or  the  coin- 
cidence of  the  two,  requires,  we  have  to  remark,  first,  on  the 
claims  of  the  law  of  progression.  What  these  were,  was  de- 
clared by  the  event.  The  introduction  of  vegetable  life  was 
designed  by  the  Creator  to  become  subservient  to  animal  en- 
joyment. As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  vegetable  and  other  fore- 
seen conditions  were  present,  the  law  of  progression  might  be 
expected  to  receive  a  new  illustration  in  the  addition  of  animal 
existence,  provided  no  other  law  intervened.  I  am  aware,  in- 
deed, that  by  those  who  advocate  natural  development,  the  pres- 
ence of  certain  conditions  would  alone  constitute,  not  merely 
the  fitness  of  the  occasion  for  the  addition  of  animal  iife,  but 
even  necessitate  such  addition.  But  this  is  a  position  whicb, 
from  the  nature  of  the  case,  can  never  be  susceptible  of  proof. 
And  is  it  philosophical  to  conclude  that,  because  a  thing  does 
not  exist  without  certain  conditions,  therefore  it  must  exist 
with  them  ?  That  certain  events  inay  invariably  follow  the 
presence  of  certain  conditions,  I  do  not  deny  ;  for  it  may  be 
the  law  of  the  Divine  procedure  that  they  shall  do  so ;  and, 
further,  the  Creator  may  have  arranged  that  this  coincidence 
in  the  law  of  progression  shall  fall  in  with  the  law  of  the  end, 
and,  indeed,  with  other  laws  also  of  which  we  know  nothing. 
I  object  only  to  the  manner  in  which  what  may  be,  is  confound- 
ed with  what  must  be  —  the  possible  with  the  necessary,  and 
in  which  conditions  are  gratuitously  promoted  into  the  place 
of  causes. 

4.  Admitting,  then,  that  the  organic  creation  was  not  origi- 
nated without  a  design,  or,  that  it  forms  part  of  the  Divine 
plan  ;  and  that,  as  a  great  system  of  adaptations  of  means  to 
ends,  it  proclaims  a  Divine  designer,  the  question  arises,  wheth- 
er or  not  that  ultimate  end  was,  in  any  sense,  adequately  at- 
tained. That  it  had  not  been  attained,  when  animal  life  com- 
menced on  the  earth,  if  such  attainment  depended  on  the  di- 
versity and  multiplication  of  vegetable  structures  to  the  utmost 
extent  possible,  is  evident ;  for  this  multiplication  was  most 


164  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

probably  much  greater  after  that  period  than  it  was  before 
Then,  was  the  original' creation  of  organic  life,  taken  in  con 
nection  with  its  subsequent  reproductions,  and  successive  en- 
largements prior  to  the  creation  of  man,  adequate  to  warrant 
the  inference  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  Creative  wisdom  ?  Does 
the  long  series  of  vegetable  worlds,  including  the  present,  ex- 
hibit all  the  changes,  and  consequent  displays  of  Design, 
which,  under  the  circumstances,  (such  as  the  geological  revo- 
lutions and  the  size  of  the  planet),  might  have  been  expected? 

5.  In  order  to  answer  this  question  otherwise  than  inferen- 
tially  and  approximately,  we  should  require  to  be  put  in  pos- 
session of  data  which  can  never  come  within  our  reach  —  to 
know  possibilities,  for  the  comprehension  of  which  our  minds 
would  need  a  different  constitution.  It  is  enough  for  us  to 
yield  ourselves  up  to  the  inferences  and  impressions  flowing 
from  the  data  which  we  do  possess.  If,  for  example,  it  should 
appear  that  the  inorganic  creation,  in  all  that  closely  woven 
web-work  of  mechanical,  and  chemical  operations,  of  which 
man,  as  yet,  has  unravelled  so  little,  was  only  a  world  of  pro- 
spective contrivances  for  the  coming  of  organic  life :  if,  further, 
it  should  appear  that  vegetable  life  has  been  adapted  to  every 
inorganic  change  and  variety  —  to  the  bare  granite  and  the 
recent  cinders  of  the  volcano,  to  the  emerging  coral-reef  and 
the  dark  recesses  of  the  mine,  to  the  sand  of  the  torrid  zone 
and  the  perpetual  snow  of  the  poles — as  if  Wisdom  rejoiced 
in  the  occasion  which  such  apparent  difficulties  and  extremes 
affi^rded  for  displaying  the  fertility  of  its  resources ;  showing 
that  the  conditions,  destructive  of  one  form  of  life,  can  be  made 
essential  to  the  existence  of  another,  and  that,  in  its  hand,  the 
same  general  plan  admits  of  diversity  of  adaptation  without 
end:  and,  further,  that  of  all  this  variety,  there  has  existed  a  ful- 
ness to  which  Wisdom  alone  has  assigned  the  limits,  what 
more  can  be  necessary  to  assure  us  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  the 
Creative  Wisdom  ? 

6.  Now,  the  truth  of  these  suppositions  is  undeniable.  Veg- 
etable physiology  brings  to  light  the  fact  that,  even  if  the  ma- 
terial universe  had  been  constructed  solely  for  the  reception  of 
organic  life,  it  could  not  have  been  more  studiously  adapted, 
in  all  its  great  elements  and  operations,  to  the  attainment  of 
the  end,  than  it  actually  is.  The  most  scientifically  construct- 
ed plant-house,  and  the  most  elaborate  apparatus  that  may  be 
introduced  into  it,  can  only  pretend,  not  to  originate,  b;i!  sinij)ly 
to  take  advantage  of,  two  or  three  of  these  natural  adaptations. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  165 

But  the  wonders  of  the  great  Nursery  are  only  as  yet  in  pro- 
cess of  discovery.  "  The  half  has  not  been  told."  Scientific 
botany  has  arranged  between  eighty  and  a  lunidred  thousand 
species  of  plants  ;  and  still  it  continues  to  add  to  the  number. 
Literally,  its  "  field  is  the  world."  Every  clod  of  earth  belongs 
to  it,  and  the  floor  of  the  ocean.  While  fossil  geology  brings 
to  light  the  remains  of  departed  floras,  and  suggests  the  idea 
of  species  not  only  extinct  but  effaced ;  —  as  if,  amidst  the 
prodigality  of  evidence  of  design  still  extant,  some  of  the  ear- 
lier illustrations  might  well  be  spared.  The  abundance  of 
vegetable  life  is  equal  to  its  variety.  "  In  order  to  form  an 
idea  of  the  luxuriance  of  vegetation  in  the  former  world,  and 
of  the  masses  of  vegetable  matter  accumulated  by  running  wa- 
ter, and  which  have  certainly  been  converted  into  coal  in  the 
humid  way,  I  remind  the  reader  that  in  the  Saarbrlick  coal 
field  there  are  1 20  seams  of  coal  lying  one  over  another,  ex- 
clusive of  a  host  of  smaller  seams ;  and  that  some  of  these 
single  seams  of  coal  are  of  thirty,  and  others  of  more  than 
fifty  feet  thick,  as   at  Johnstoun  in  Scotland,  and  Creuzot  in 

Burgundy It  is  also  well  to  remember,  that  these  coal 

measures  are  indebted  for  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  their 
mateiials,  not  to  the  trunks  of  mighty  trees,  but  to  small 
grasses,  and  to  frondiferous  and  low  cryptogamic  vegetables."  i 
At  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  the  "  wood  hills  "  of 
the  icy  Siberian  Sea,  the  same  process  of  vegetable  accumula- 
tion is,  probably,  still  going  on.  But  to  estimate  the  existing 
fulness  of  vegetable  life,  it  is  necessary  to  remember  the  mighty 
forests  of  the  tropical  zone  of  South  America.  And  yet,  could 
the  whole  be  surveyed,  it  would  be  as  nothing,  probably,  com- 
pared with  the  seeds  of  organic  life  enclosed  in  the  crust  of 
the  earth.  KJieaded  up  with  the  inorganic  material,  to  an  un- 
known depth,  are  the  germs  of  vegetation ;  and  only  awaiting 
exposure  to  air  and  light,  in  order  to  "  bring  forth  and  bud  " 
as  if  the  hand  of  God  had  but  just  sown  them.  And,  not  only 
so,  but  almost  every  variety  of  material  is  found  to  contain 
a  corresponding  variety  of  vegetable  existence.  So  that  not 
only  may  it  be  said  of  organic  life  that  its  "  field  is  the  world," 
but  world  upon  world. 

7.  Here,  then,  is  evidence  enough  to  justify  the  conclusion 
that  the  Wisdom  which  has  shown  itself  suflicient  for  all  this 
unexplored  range  of  organic  life,  is  sufficient  for  every  change 

Humboldt's  Cosmos. 


166  THE   PRE- ADAMITE   EARTH. 

of  the  same  kind  of  which  the  earth,  or  even  the  material  uni* 
verse,  admits.  The  question,  be  it  observed,  is  not  whether 
this  range,  extended  as  it  is,  might  not  have  been  more  ex- 
tended ;  this  demand  is  of  a  kind  which  no  range  short  of  infin- 
ity could  satisfy.  For  even  if  instead  of  a  hundred  thousand 
species,  every  individual  plant  had  been  different  from  all  the 
rest,  and  every  inch  of  the  earth's  surface  had  been  crowded 
with  vegetable  life,  the  question  might  have  been  still  raised 
whether  the  earth  itself  might  not  hav#been  larger,  and  so  on, 
ad  infinitum.  In  other  words,  it  is  to  ask  for  that,  which,  if 
possible,  would  yet  be  useless.  But  the  question  is,  whether 
the  Creative  wisdom  displayed  in  the  organic  stage  of  the  Di- 
vine plan,  does  not  warrant  the  conviction  of  its  sufficiency  for 
the  same  hind  of  display  to  any  possible  extent.  And  every  one 
who  considers  the  question  must  feel  that  it  admits  of  only  one 
reply.  And  hence  it  is  that  we  can  hear  of  the  discovery  of 
new  vegetable  species,  not  only  without  surprise,  but  as  if  the 
fact  merely  gratified  a  feeling  of  antecedent  probability.  Nor 
can  we  doubt  that  if  the  earth  were  to  be  once  more  stripped 
of  its  verdant  robe,  and  if  the  conditions  of  organic  life  were  to 
be  afterwards  restored,  cooner  or  later,  it  would  again  look  like 
"  the  garden  of  the  Lord."  And,  with  the  same  confidence,  we 
feel  assured  that,  if  similar  conditions  exist  in  other  worlds, 
the  same  wisdom  which  has  so  often  "  renewed  the  face  of  the 
earth,"  is  sufficient  to  clothe  them  with  similar  beauty,  in  diver- 
sities without  end. 

But,  if  the  design  of  the  organic  creation  be  to  illustrate,  in 
the  sense  explained,  the  sufficiency  of  the  Creative  wisdom,  we 
shall  be  ready  to  admit  that  not  until  the  evidence  of  such  suf- 
ficiency was  complete,  could  "  the  fulness  of  time "  for  man's 
creation  have  arrived.  Not  until  it  had  existed  long  enough 
to  accumulate  all  the  proofs  of  the  truth  which  it  was  designed 
to  teach,  would  the  "  set  time "  arrive  for  the  coming  of  the 
creature  destined  to  interpret  that  truth.  And  whatever  may 
be  the  apparent  hardihood  of  this  view,  it  entirely  vanishes 
when  we  remember  that  He  who  forelaid  the  plan  of  the  whole 
creative  series,  makes  every  part  to  harmonize  with  every 
other  part,  and  the  whole  to  subserve  the  ultimate  end. 

XIX. 

Reason  of  the  Method.  —  In  passing  from  the  method  of  the 
Divine  procedure  to  the  reason  of  the  method,  we  find  it  to  be 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  167 

two-fold ;  —  being  founded  partly  in  the  constitution  of  the  crea- 
ture hy  whom  the  method  is  to  he  studied,  and  involving  His  well- 
being,  and  partly  in  his  destiny,  and  so  involving,  in  addition, 
the  glory  of  the  Divine  Creator. 

1.  As  to  the  first  part  of  the  reason  ;  it  would  be  easy  to 
show  that,  if  the  organic  world  is  to  be  made  subservient  to 
human  interests,  the  laws  of  the  method  are  indispensable. 
Without  the  uniform  sequences  and  dependencies,  for  example, 
which  vegetable  life  exhibits,  its  cultivation  would  be  impos- 
S'ible ;  indeed,  without  amenableness  to  law,  it  would  not  be 
even  useable. ^  And  how  impossible  would  it  be  for  man  to 
turn  his  observations  to  any  scientific  account,  were  it  not  for 
those  relations  of  analogy  and  afiinity  which  arrange  the  mem- 
bers of  the  botanic  kingdom  in  an  orderly  plan ! 

And  that  which  especially  marks  the  wisdom  of  the  Creator 
is  the  manner  in  which  the  medium  is  observed  between  bewil- 
dering irregularity  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  uninstructive  and 
depressing  sameness  on  the  other.  Only  imagine  these  laws 
to  be  so  obvious  as  to  cost  man  no  effort ;  and  they  would  yield 
him  no  interest.  On  the  contrary,  suppose  them  to  be  but 
slightly  illustrated  by  fact,  or  to  be  inextricably  entangled  by 
circumstance ;  and  they  would  defy  liis  utmost  diligence  and 
apphcation.  In  the  first  instance,  he  could  not  be  said  to  learn ; 
and  in  the  second,  nature  could  not  be  said  to  teach.  But  as  it 
is,  liis  position  somewhat  resembles  that  of  a  child  into  whose 
lap  its  parent  has  thrown  a  handful  of  flowers  selected  for  a 
nosegay,  but  intentionally  mingled  together,  that  the  taste  of 
the  child  might  be  cultivated  in  their  re-arrangement;  the 
parent  taking  care  that  the  exercise  shall  not  be  so  difficult  as 
to  be  hopeless,  nor  so  easy  as  to  be  useless.  The  organic  world 
is  so  constituted  that,  without  either  forcing  its  lessons,  or  dis- 

^  See  on  this  subject  Professor  Liebig's  "  Organic  Chemistry  in  its 
application  to  Agriculture  and  Physiology;"  a  work  devoted  especially 
to  an  explanation  of  the  proper  food  of  plants,  and  to  the  modes  in  which, 
and  the  sources  from  which,  they  receive  this  nourishment.  In  harmony 
with  the  subject  of  this  chapter  he  remarks :  — "  Innumerable  are  the  aids 
afforded  to  the  means  of  life,  to  manufactures  and  to  commerce,  by  the 
truths  which  assiduous  and  active  inquirers  have  discovered  and  rendered 
capable  of  practical  application.  But  it  is  not  the  mere  practical  utility 
of  these  truths  which  is  of  importance.  Their  influence  upon  mental  cul- 
ture is  most  beneficial ;  and  the  new  views  acquired  by  the  knowledge  of 
them  enable  the  mind  to  recognise  in  the  phenomena  of  nature  proofs  of 
an  infinite  wisdom,  for  the  unfathomable  profundity  of  which  human  lan- 
guage has  no  expression."  —  p.  6, 


168  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

pensing  witli  attention,  it  invites  observation,  and  rfewards 
well-directed  diligence  of  every  kind  and  degree.  Its  "  doc- 
trine drops  as  the  rain ;  its  speech  distils  as  the  dew.  But  its 
instructions  are  all  optional ;  man  receives  them  only  if  he 
win. 

2.  And  as  to  the  second  part  of  the  reason,  if  organized 
nature  is  to  be  construed  by  man  so  as  to  subserve  the  ultimate 
end,  all  the  laws  whiclT  we  have  considered  as  belonging  to  the 
method  of  the  Divine  procedure  are,  in  one  respect  or  another, 
indispensable.  In  the  absence  of  law,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  the  mind  to  infer  a  Law-giver.  In  the  absence  of  all  signs 
of  dependence,  organic  nature  would  be  regarded  as  proclaim- 
ing its  independence.  But,  here,  every  vegetable  family  has 
its  place  ;  every  species,  its  type ;  every  function,  its  order ; 
every  fibre,  its  prescribed  rule.  Here  life  is  found  in  union 
with  organization ;  a  union,  however,  which  can  only  be  shown 
to  be  uniform,  not  necessary.  And  here,  everything  relating 
to  the  commencement  of  organic  life,  to  its  progress,  and  to 
the  filling  up  of  the  great  plan  on  which  it  is  formed,  must  be 
resolved  into  the  will  of  the  Divine  Creator ;  for  even  those 
who  believe  only  that  laws  were  originally  impressed  on  mat- 
ter of  which  all  this  is  the  developed  result,  must  admit  that 
the  entire  result  was  in  the  original  contemplation  and  choice 
of  the  Deity. 

3.  But  here  again  the  evidence  needs  to  be  balanced  be- 
tween two  extremes.  If  the  proof  of  a  Divine  agency  were 
to  be  so  obvious  and  cogent  as  to  leave  man  no  option  what- 
ever as  to  the  nature  of  his  conclusions  respecting  it,  this  would 
be  as  unsuited  to  his  moral  freedom,  as  the  absence  of  all  or 
of  adequate  proof  would  be  to  his  rational  conviction  —  a  con- 
sideration which  applies  to  every  department  of  the  Divine 
procedure;  and  whicli,  if  seasonably  remembered  and  applied, 
would  answer  many  objections,  and  solve  many  difficulties,  re- 
specting it.  Accordingly,  the  evidence  is  supplied  in  "  weight 
and  measure."  It  is  as  reserved  to  one,  as  it  is  open  and  com- 
municative to  another.  To  some,  the  laws  of  organic  life  an- 
swer the  purpose  only  of  self-manifestation ;  and  seem  to  publish 
both  their  own  sufficiency  and  the  sagacity  of  the  party  dis- 
covering or  apprehending  them  ;i  while  to  others,  they  con- 

^  Dr.  Maccixlloch  has  well  remarked  of  certain  philosophers,  who  never 
"  think  of  a  designino;  and  wise  Creator  —  they  searcli,  and  when  they 
have  found,  they  produce  the  discovery  a>  a  proof  of  their  own  wisdom. 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  169 

vinclngly  declare  that  their  "  sufTiciency  is  of  God."  To  each 
class  the  same  evidence  is  supplied.  For  the  former,  it  is  not 
so  scanty  as  to  excuse  their  impiety ;  nor  for  the  latter,  so 
overpowering  as  to  constrain  belief,  and  make  virtue  impossi- 
ble. It  is  so  graduated  and  adjusted,  that  it  may  be  regarded 
as  having  formed,  from  the  first,  a  mute  prophecy,  both  of  the 
voluntary  constitution  of  the  being  destined  to  interpret  it,  and 
of  the  end  it  was  designed  to  answer. 

XX. 

The  ultimate  end,  —  According  to  our  theory,  hoih  the  laws 
of  the  method,  and  the  proximate  reason  of  it,  will  find  their 
idtimate  end,  in  relation  to  this  stage  of  the  Divine  procedure, 
in  contributinq  to  prove  the  all-stijfficienci/  of  the  wisdom  of 
God. 

1.  But  first,  having  distinctly  stated  that  each  preceding 
display  of  the  Divine  perfection  may  be  expected  to  be  brought 
forwards  and  enlarged  through  each  successive  stage  of  crea- 
tion, and  having  assigned  the  grounds  of  this  expectation,  we 
have  to  begin  by  remarking  on  its  fulfilment  in  the  continued 
exercise  of  the  Divine  Power.  During  the  entire  period,  from 
the  introduction  of  organic  life  to  the  creation  of  man,  all  the 
pre-existing  forces  of  inorganic  matter  continued  in  activity. 
The  argument  for  the  power  of  God,  therefore,  remained  un- 
abated ;  rather  it  was  augmented  during  every  moment  of  the 
period. 

2.  But  here  were  new  displays  of  power.  It  originated 
and  introduced  the  new  principle  of  life.  It  was  present' in 
the  motion  of  every  plant  that  waved ;  as  well  as  in  the  me- 
chanical and  chemical  action  constantly  going  on  for  the  pro- 
duction of  soil.  It  was  present  in  the  mountain  cedar  braving 
the  tempest  by  resistance  ;  and  in  the  slender  flower  evading 
the  storm  by  elasticity  :  in  the  plenitude  of  vegetable  life  which 
crowded  the  wilderness  ;  and  in  the  lichen  of  the  almost  inde- 

They  seek  for  ends  and  uses ;  and  they  boast  of  having  seen  the  means 
and  the  end,  as  much  as  if  they  had  intended  the  end  and  invented  the 
means.  Yet  they  who  boast,  should  not  forget  that  there  was  a  Wisdom 
which  anticipated  their  own ;  that  had  there  not  been  a  Sagacity  which 
planned,  their  own  sagacity  in  tracing  the  execution  would  never  have 
appeared ;  that  they  are  but  students,  and  that  in  their  pride  of  assigning 
the  wisdom  and  the  design,  they  ought  not  to  overlook  Him,  the  Design- 
er and  the  Wise,  their  own  designer,  and  the  great  Being  who  gave  them 
the  power  of  knowing  Himself,  their  God."  —  Vol.  i.  p.  607. 
15  f     .    . 


170  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

structible  rock  wliich  appears  to  live  on  through  ages,  tlie 
only  form  of  life  in  a  region  of  desolation.  It  proclaimed  its 
presence  in  the  molecular  movements  and  ceaselessly  diversi- 
fied currents  of  every  minute  cellular  structure  ;  and  in  the 
organic  force  which  pumps  up  the  sap  and  diffuses  it  through- 
out the  most  gigantic  and  branching  tree.  If,  for  example,  as 
it  can  be  shown,  a  tree  of  thirty-three  feet  high,  requires  a 
pressure  of  "  fifteen  pounds  upon  every  square  inch  in  the 
section  of  the  vessels  of  the  bottom,  in  order  merely  to  support 
the  sap,"  how  great  must  be  the  power  which  projDcls  the  sap 
upwards  so  as  to  supply  the  constant  evaporation  of  the  leaves. 
And  if  this  be  true  of  an  individual  tree,  who  shall  calculate 
the  amount  of  the  forces  which  came  into  play  with  every 
outburst  of  vernal  life  during  the  era  of  the  great  coal  forma- 
tions ! 

3.  But  power  is  here  seen  waiting  on  Wisdom  ;  laying  out 
her  resources  to  be  employed  as  adaptations  and  means.  Wher- 
ever we  look  we  are  impressed  with  the  idea  of  difficulties 
overcome,  difficulties  originated  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  over- 
coming them,  —  and  overcome,  not  in  one  way  merely,  but  in 
ways  so  gratuitously  varied  and  multiplied  as  if  to  impress  us 
with  the  conviction  of  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  the  Being 
who  has  overcome  them ;  and,  further,  that  He  actually  intend 
ed  to  produce  this  impression. 

4.  We  have  just  been  showing  that  the  displays  of  power 
co-exist  with  those  of  wisdom,  and  are  even  multiplied  in  her 
service.  We  have  now  to  recognise  the  prospective  contri- 
vances of  wisdom  even,  in  the  inorganic  world,  where  before 
we  saw  nothing  but  power.  Take,  for  example,  the  fact  that 
granite  should  have  been  selected  from  many  other  substances 
to  constitute  the  great  framework  of  the  earth,  in  connection 
with  its  peculiar  chemical  fitness  for  the  support  of  vegetable 
life.  Animals  do  not  ultimately  depend  on  vegetable  food, 
more  certainly  than  vegetables  depend  on  mineral  sustenance. 
Primarily,  indeed,  they  depend  on  the  surrounding  water,  and 
on  the  moisture  which  bather  their  roots  :  but  experiment  de- 
monstrates that  there  are  certain  other  bodies  —  such  as  potash 
and  phosphoric  acid,  which  are  universally  present  in  veget- 
able structures,  and  essential  to  their  existence.  Now  there 
is  satisfactory  evidence  to  show  that  these  substances  formed 
specific  ingredients  in  the  granites  of  the  ancient  earth ;  and 
that,  consequently,  they  were  provided  ages  before  the  com- 
mencement of  organic  life,     But  in  vain  would  this,  provision 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  IVl 

have  existed,  if,  in  addition,  these  granite  masses  had  not  been 
elevated  to  form  tlie  great  mountain  cliains  of  the  earth ;  for 
in  this  way  only  could  that  slow  disintegration  take  place  by 
which  their  liberated  materials  contribute  to  produce  the  fruit- 
bearing  soil  of  the  earth.  Now  who  can  fail  to  recognise  here 
the  bearing  of  one  part  upon  another,  the  presence  of  conspir- 
ing means,  of  23reparation  and  completion  ? 

5.  "We  may  notice,  also,  instances  of  the  remarkable  manner 
in  which  organic  life  has  been  adapted  to  pre-existing  laws. 
Had  the  earth,  for  example,  its  astronomical  year  and  its  diur- 
nal rotation  ?  The  entire  life  of  annual  plants  agrees  exactly 
with  the  former,  and  the  circle  of  action  in  the  perennial  tribes 
with  the  latter.  Is  the  force  of  the  earth's  gravity  specific  ? 
Then  must  the  forces  of  organic  life  be  precisely  adjusted  to 
it ;  for,  were  they  below  a  certain  amount,  the  rate  of  veget- 
able circulation  would  stop  ;  or  were  they  in  excess,  it  would 
be  accelerated  in  a  manner  equally  destructive  of  life.  Crea- 
tive wisdom,  however,  has  nicely  adapted  the  minutest  parts 
of  vegetable  structures  to  the  mass  of  the  earth  on  which  they 
exist.  Is  matter  endowed  with  the  properties  of  tenacity, 
hardness,  density,  flexibility,  and  elasticity  ?  So  exquisitely 
is  the  vegetable  constitution  adapted  to  all  these,  —  not  in  a 
single  way,  but  in  a  different  manner  for  each  species,  —  that 
a  slight  alteration  in  any  one  of  these  laws  would  require  the 
reconstruction  of  the  whole.  The  magnitude  of  the  ocean  and 
its  extensive  currents  are  related  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
moveable  atmosphere,  the  repository  and  the  moving  force  of 
the  clouds  ;  and  both  combine  to  the  production  of  such  a  dis- 
tribution of  the  temperature  as  is  essential  to  vegetable  life, 
and  determines  many  of  its  forces.  The  laws  of  radiation, 
evaporation,  electricity,  all  sustain  vital  relation  to  the  organic 
economy ;  while  light,  besides  administering  the  necessary  stim- 
ulus to  its  functions,  paints  and  beautifies  every  flower  that 
blows. 

6.  But  the  same  system  of  adaptations  has  reappeared,  and 
been  applied,  through  a  prolonged  succession  of  geological 
changes ;  so  that  its  accommodative  power  has  been  always 
receiving  additional  confirmations.  Had  we  seen  the  earliest 
organic  products  of  the  primitive  earth,  we  should  most  likely 
have  concluded  that  the  then  existing  condition  of  the  globe 
was  essential  to  their  existence.  But  other  conditions  of  the 
planet  succeeded,  and  the  mighty  forests  now  entombed  as 
coal  formations  came  with  them.     And  as  other  chancres  fol- 


172  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

lowed,  plants,  of  forms  and  characters  now  unknown  on  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  succeeded;  specimens  of  which  were  stored 
away  in  the  grand  natural  Herbaria  of  the  earth,  as  if  reserv- 
ed* for  the  purpose  of  shaming  us  from  setting  limits  to  the 
Creator's  power  and  wisdom. 

7.  In  speaking  of  the  boundless  variety  of  vegetable  life, 
we  may  take  the  existing  flora  of  the  earth  as  a  specimen  of 
all  those  which  have  preceded  it.  The  Divine  Being  might 
have  clothed  the  earth  with  verdure,  and  yet  have  limited  the 
whole  vegetable  variety  to  two  or  three  species ;  but  between 
eighty  and  a  hundred  thousand  species  are  already  ■  classed. 
Had  we  seen  land-plants  only,  we  should  have  considered  the 
existence  of  aquatic  plants  an  impossibility ;  and  yet  forests 
wave  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean.  Had  we  seen  them  only  in 
a  fertile  soil,  we  should  have  deemed  such  a  soil  essential  to 
their  existence ;  but  God  has  appointed  the  apparently  msig- 
nificant  lichen  to  live  on  the  rock,  and  it  eats  for  ages  into  a 
substance  which  defies  the  chemical  and  mechanical  forces. 
From  the  sea-shores,  from  the  bed  of  the  sea,  from  the  deep 
caverns  of  the  earth,  upwards,  as  the  land  rises,  in  stages,  to 
the  Hne  of  eternal  snow,  organic  life  is  to  be  found  diffused 
over  the  entire  range.  Is  land  to  be  rescued  from  the  sea? 
A  succession  of  plants  effects  the  process,  each  giving  place  as 
soon  as  it  has  prepared  the  way  for  a  superior  species ;  others, 
again,  being  ready  to  defend  and  retain  the  rescued  territory. 
Did  the  Creator  determine  that  the  plant  should  be  distinguish- 
ed by  definite  form  ?  All  the  species  are  obviously  construct- 
ed on  a  general  plan ;  but,  while  that  plan  is  never  lost  sight 
of,  the  characteristic  of  figure,  color,  fragrance,  and  duration, 
is  diversified  without  end ;  and,  in  many  instances,  as  if  for 
the  sake  of  showing  that,  in  the  hands  of  Lifinite  Wisdom, 
any  single  idea  admits  of  endless  illustration.  Are  plants  to 
grow  by  nutrition  ?  The  food  which  they  elaborate  and  store 
up  is  not  of  a  single  kind  merely ;  in  one  tribe  it  is  oil,  in 
another  fecula,  in  another  lignine,  in  another  sugar,  in  another 
gum,  &c. ;  while  "  an  interminable  catalogue  of  other  sub- 
stances may  be  extracted  from  the  juices  of  different  plants,  all 
of  whicA  have  been  formed  by  secretion  in  some  part  or  other  of 
their  structure."  Are  they  to  be  continued  by  reproduction  ? 
The  modes  of  sustaining  the  feeble  parent  plants  are  so  various- 
ly diversified,  as  if  for  the  sole  object  of  showing  that  such 
variety  was  practicable ;  some  of  these  are  supported  by  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  hooks,  others  by  voluble  stems,  by  claws,  by 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  173 

voluble  leaves,  by  radicles,  by  tendrils,  &c.  The  modes  of 
protecting  seeds  comprise  unnumbered  inventions  ;  many  of 
them  so  far  from  simple,  that  they  would  seem  to  be  adopted 
only  for  the  sake  of  demonstrg^ting  a  power  of  invention.  From 
some  plants  the  seeds  simply  fall ;  from  others  a  mechanical 
force  projects  them  to  a  distance ;  others  yield  them  to  the 
power  of  the  winds ;  and  the  seeds  of  others  are  winged  for 
distant  flight. 

8.  Now,  we  do  not  say  that  this  diversity  and  exuberance 
of  organic  life,  together  with  the  complicated  inorganic  arrange- 
ments which  it  involves,  scientifically  demonstrates  the  abso- 
lute infinity  of  the  Divine  wisdom.  If  it  did  so,  all  the  illus- 
trations of  wisdom  exhibited  in  the  subsequent  stages  of  the 
Divine  procedure  would,  as  further  evidence,  be  superfluous. 
A  similar  remark  to  this  we  made  in  the  preceding  Part,  when 
inferring  the  extent  of  the  Divine  power  from  the  evidence 
then  before  us.  And  from  the  advanced  point  we  have  now 
reached,  we  can  see  how  great  would  have  been  our  error  if 
we  had  limited  our  views  of  that  Power  by  the_  evidence  afford- 
ed by  that  first  stage.  For,  here  we  behold  it  putting  forth 
fresh  displays,  and  demonstrating  that  "  the  Creator  of  the  ends 
of  the  earth  fainteth  not,  neither  is  weary."  And,  in  a  simi- 
lar manner,  the  illustrations  of  the  Divine  wisdom  have  been 
accumulating  ever  since,  and  in  new  departments  of  creation. 
In  hai-mony  with  which  fact,  we  repeat  our  conviction,  that  an 
infinite  proof  of  infinite  wisdom  can  be  furnished  to  finite  crea- 
tures, or  be  received  by  them,  only  by  a  progressive  accumu- 
lation through  infinite  duration,  and  therefore  can  only  be 
always  in  process.  But  we  can  conceive  also  of  such  a  dis- 
play of  wisdom,  within  a  space  and  a  time  not  unlimited,  as 
should  furnish  beings  capable  of  reasoning  from  analogy,  witli 
abundant  evidence  of  wisdom  unlimited.  Such  an  exercise  of 
wisdom  we  believe  to  have  been  displayed  in  the  organic 
creation. 

9.  In  bringing  this  conviction  home  to  the  mind,  it  is  to  be 
remembered,  as  a  fact  of  universal  admission,  that  the  special 
limitations  of  matter,  and  therefore  the  limitations  of  the  uses 
made  of  it,  are  necessitated  by  the  nature  of  matter  itself.  Tlie 
material  medium  for  exhibiting  design  is  itself  inherently  con- 
ditioned by  limits.  So  that  we  have  to  determine  the  question, 
what  amount  of  evidence  of  design,  exhibited  under  circum- 
stances in  which  the  medium  of  design  itself  forbids  absolute 
infinity,  we,  as  beings,  constituted  to  infer  more  than  we  «f».e, 

15* 


174  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

should  deem  an  adequate  illustration  of  wisdom  unlimited. 
Now  we  think  we  are  uttering  a  very  sober  supposition  in 
saying,  that  the  production  of  the  first  form  of  organic  life 
that  appeai'ed,  would  be,  in  the  estimation  of  superior  intelli- 
gences, both  the  sole  prerogative  and  the  adequate  illustration 
of  infinite  wisdom.  We  can  conceive  of  beings  to  whom  that 
simple  form  would  furnish  a  key  to  the  material  universe.  For 
them,  the  full  exposition  of  tlaat  single  constitution  would  in- 
volve the  exposition  of  the  whole  physical  creation.  But,  that 
single  specimen  was  accompanied  or  followed  by  a  world  of 
diversified  organizations.  It  would  have  been  in  vain  for 
man,  had  he  then  lived,  to  attempt  the  individual  enumeration. 
Now,  surely  he  could  not  have  listened  to  such  an  exposition 
of  organic  life  as  that  to  which  we  have  adverted,  —  a  tale  of 
ages, — for  it  must  have  included  the  mechanical  and  chemical 
history  of  our  planet  from  the  beginning ;  could  not  have  mark- 
ed how  all  physical  science  was  presupposed  by  each  organic 
form,  and  met  in  it ;  how  it  stood  the  centre,  not  of  a  system 
merely,  but  of  plan  within  plan,  and  system  within  system, 
with  all  the  inorganic  laws  and  elements,  like  angels,  minis- 
tering to  it ;  and  that  the  same  was  true  of  every  species,  but 
with  an  endless  diversity  of  details  in  each ;  he  could  not  have 
required  ages  of  such  occupation,  in  order  to  feel  constrained 
to  admit,  of  the  Divine  Creator,  that  "  His  ways  are  past  find- 
ing out !" 

Long  as  that  early  geological  period  may  have  lasted,  it 
would  doubtless  have  come  to  an  end  before  the  supposed 
exposition  was  completed,  for  every  returning  season  would 
add  to  its  subjects.  While  yet  the  investigation  was  in  pro- 
cess, a  new  epoch  would  dawn,  and  a  new  world  of  organic 
wonders  come  to  view.  And  thus  the  illustrations  of  Creative 
wisdom  would  be  accumulating  on  him  in  an  ever  augmenting 
ratio.  Surely,  as  these  worlds  came  before  him  in  a  succes- 
sion which  promised  no  end,  and  yet  every  one  of  them  exhi- 
biting myriads  of  differences  from  all  the  rest,  he  would  have 
confessed,  unnumbered  ages  ago,  "  There  is  no  searching  of 
His  understanding !"  Further,  when  he  found  that  each  of 
these  varying  organic  worlds  as  it  came  before  him  was  not 
only  perfect  in  itself;  and  perfect  from  the  first ;  but  that  each 
formed  part  of  a  plan  which  comprehended  the  whole ;  a  plan 
presupposed  by  the  whole  series,  and  which  had  been  invari- 
ably adhered  to  amidst  all  the  endless  modifications  which  its 
principles  were  always  receiving;  and  a  plan  which,  while 


ORGANIC    LIFE.  175 

retaining  in  the  original  and  appropriate  places  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  every  extinct  family,  provided  a  definite  place  for 
every  new  creation,  and  every  additional  species,  he  could  not 
forbear  exclaiming,  "  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works ; 
in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all !"  In  the  imaginary  posi- 
tion we  have  described,  he  could  not  but  feel,  as  every  onward 
step  in  the  organic  series  brought  with  it  an  incalculable  amount 
of  evidence  of  the  Divine  wisdom^  to  be  added  to  all  the  accu- 
mulations of  the  past,  that  the  Being  who  had  designed  all 
this  could  have  covered  the  earth,  had  it  been  ten  times  larger 
than  it  is,  with  a  proportionate  enlargement  of  the  organic 
plan ;  that,  if  He  has  not  clothed  every  distant  star  with  veo-e- 
table  life,  it  is  not  owing  to  any  limit  or  exhaustion  of  His 
designing  power ;  and  that  the  organic  worlds  of  past  time  are 
only  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  He  could  go  on  vary- 
ing the  details  of  organic  adaptations  for  ever.  And  when  he 
saw  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  an  end  to  His  designs ;  and 
remembered  that,  as  the  Divine  power  of  the  inorganic  stage 
had  been  brought  on  into  the  organic,  so  the  Divine  wisdom 
of  the  organic  stage  would  probably  receive  fresh  illustrations 
in  some  new  economy,  he  would  feel  that  he  was  in  the  pre- 
sence of  wisdom  all-sufficient,  and  acknowledge,  "  Great  is  the 
Lord,  and  of  great  power ;  His  understanding  is  infinite !" 


FIFTH    PART. 
SENTIENT    EXISTENCE, 


The  Third  Stage  of  the  Divine  Manifestation : 

POWER,    WISDOM,   AND    GOODNESS. 

Let  it  be  imagined  that  another  extended  period  has 
elapsed  since  we  took  our  last  survey  of  creation,  and  beheld 
the  wisdom  of  God  as  displayed  in  the  wonders  of  vegetable 
life.  It  seems  but  natural  that  the  view,  so  far  from  leading 
us  to  conclude  that  we  had  reached  the  ultimatum  of  Divine 
Manifestation,  would  have  awakened  "rather  an  expectation  of 
beholding  ulterior  displays.  The  Being,  we  might  have  said, 
whose  Power  called  this  visible  universe  into  existence,  and 
whose  Wisdom  has  ever  been  conducting  it  from  one  stage  to 
another,  till  it  is  literally  organizing  its  elements  and  exhibit- 
ing them  in  the  possession  of  life,  can  surely  know  no  limits  to 
His  operations  but  such  as  the  same  Wisdom  may  see  fit  to  pre- 
scribe. The  use  which  He  had  made  of  matter  when  last  we 
looked  on  the  scene  of  creation,  seems  to  warrant  the  conjec- 
ture that,  if  life  can  be  added  to  matter,  something  equally 
wonderful  may  be  added  to  life.  What  if  that  addition  should 
consist  of  enjoyment !  Who  can  say  but  that  in  the  revolution 
of  ages,  the  period  may  come  when  forms  of  organized  being 
may  not  only  live,  but  move  and  be  happy  ! 

1.  Another  visit  to  the  object  of  our  meditations  is  at  length 
permitted  us ;  and  a  scene  opens  to  our  view  which  compels 
us  to  exclaim,  "  How  great  is  his  goodness  ! "  For  the  sake 
of  illustration,  let  the  season  of  our  supposed  visit  be  fixed, 
long  after  the  new  era  of  animal  existence  had  commenced, 
yet  before  the  time  of  the  Adamic  creation ;  and  let  it  be  ima- 
gined that  the  vai*ious  changes  wliich,  at  long  intervals,  had 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  177- 

occurred  since  our  last  visit,  were  all  laid  open  to  us.  We 
should  find  that  not  only  had  the  great  change  itself,  which 
had  been  the  subject  of  our  conjectures,  taken  place  —  that 
vegetable  life  had  been  actually  succeeded  by  animal  enjoy- 
ment—  but  that  even  that  enjoyment  had  reached  a  point 
which  awoke  the  expectation  of  something  greater  still  at  hand. 

2.  In  the  last  Part^we  saw  vegetable  life  in  the  solitary 
and  entire  occupation  —  we  say  not  for  any  length  of  time  — 
of  the  advancing  earth ;  we  saw  it  in  busy  and  diversified  ac- 
tivity, preparing  the  way,  in  some  places,  both  for  the  coming 
of  higher  orders  of  its  own  kind  of  life,  by  producing  the  ne- 
cessary kind  of  soil,  and  for  the  Divine  origination  of  that  ani- 
mal life  wliich  it  was  destined  to  support.  We  beheld  in  its 
presence,  and  varieties,  and  rapid  increase,  an  indication  that 
the  Great  and  Provident  Householder  was  contemplating  the 
arrival  of  unnumbered  guests.  Now  we  find,  not  only  that 
they  have  come,  but  that,  since  their  first  appearance,  the  crust 
of  the  globe  has  undergone  many  a  revolution,  and  has  exhi- 
bited many  a  rich  and  varied  surface  of  vegetable  life,  crowd- 
ed with  corresponding  forms  of  animated  existence.  While, 
on  each  occasion,  there  is  reason  to  believe  the  same  order  has 
been  observed  as  to  the  subsequence  of  animal  to  vegetable 
life :  an  inorganic  change  being  followed  by  a  corresponding 
change  in  vegetation  ;  and  a  change  in  vegetation  followed  by 
appropriate  species  of  animated  beings. 

I. 

3.  Goodness.  —  We  have  not  yet  to  speak  of  the  extent  of 
the  Divine  benevolence  to  be  inferred  from  this  new  form  of 
existence.  We  have  only,  at  present,  to  regard  it  as  evincing 
the  exiMence  of  goodness  in  the  Creator.  Hereafter  we  shall 
have  to  view  it  as  furnishing  new  illustrations  also  of  the  Crea- 
tive power  and  wisdom  already  displayed  in  the  preceding 
stages.  But,  for  the  present,  we  have  only  to  do  with  the  law, 
that  every  Divinely  originated  effect  is  a  result,  of  which  the  su- 
preme and  idlimate  reason  is  in  the  Divine  nature.  Now,  here, 
in  the  animal  kingdom,  is  a  being  constructed  for  enjoyment ; 
each  of  its  movements  yielding  it  gratification  ;  each  of  its 
senses  an  inlet  to  pleasure :  and  the  whole  is  ever  preparing 
the  way  for  greater  enjoyment  still,  and  finding  happiness  in 
the  occupation.  If  the  reason  for  the  existence  of  this  creature 
is  to  be  sought  in  the  Divine  Creator,  so  also  must  be  the  rea- 


178  THE   PEE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

son  of  its  enjoyment.  Even  if  there  were  no  purpose  of  mani- 
festing the  Divine  All-sufficiency  —  if  the  creation  were  to  be 
limited  to  a  single  creature  —  still,  as  every  effect  must  be,  in 
some  sense,  like  its  cause,  that  single  creature  would  be,  not 
indeed,  formally,  but  virtually,  a  manifestation,  pro  tmnto,  of 
some  property  of  the  Divine  Nature.  But  here  is  not  merely 
an  individual  animal  designed  for  enjoyment,  nor  a  single  spe- 
ciesy  but  a  world,  a  succession  of  worlds,  filled  with  animal  en- 
joyment. What  property  of  the  Divine  Creator  can  this  fact 
be  supposed  to  manifest,  but  that  He,  "the  Happy  God,"  is 
good,  or  delights  to  impart  happiness  ! 

4.  But  is  animal  pain  and  death,  especially  the  system  of 
prey,  compatible  with  the  goodness  of  the  Creator  ?  We  ad- 
mit, first,  that  death,  and  even  the  system  of  prey,  were  origi- 
nally intended  by  God.  That  the  former  was,  will  be,  in  gen- 
eral, readily  admitted.  In  proof  of  the  latter,  we  have  merely 
to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  whole  tribes  of  animals  are 
expressly  constructed  for  it.  Their  instincts  and  organization 
prepare  them  to  be  engines  of  destruction. 

5.  But,  then,  secondly,  the  pain  attending  animal  death  by 
violence  is  apparently  reduced  to  its  minimum.  For,  1,  the 
animal  knows  not  that  death  is  the  extinction  of  life.  Yet  this 
is  the  very  consideration  which,  in  the  case  of  man,  gives  to 
death  all  its  bitterness.  2.  As  the  animal  knows  not  that  it  is 
ceasing  to  be,  even  when  it  is  in  the  article  of  death,  the  diffi- 
culty is,  in  reality,  reduced  to  one  of  physical  pain  merely. 
For  as  to  its  unconscious  removal  by  death,  no  objection  can 
be  consistently  raised  against  such  an  arrangement  in  the  ani- 
mal world,  apart  from  the  attendant  pain,  any  more  than 
against  the  corresponding  arrangement  in  the  vegetable  world. 
And  yet  we  there  admired  the  wisdom  which  made  a  loAver 
order  of  vegetable  organization  subservient  by  death  to  a 
higher  order.  Now,  it  should,  be  remembered  that  the  dying 
animal  is  as  unconscious  of  its  fate  as  the  dying  plant ;  the 
only  question  to  be  resolved  then,  we  repeat,  is  one  of  animal 
pain.  3.  There  appears  to  be  a  law  of  graduating  sensibility 
pervading  the  animal  kingdom;  according  to  which,  the  degree 
of  feeling  diminishes  as  the  organization  descends  in  the  scale  ; 
till,  as  we  approach  the  point  at  which  it  touches  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  it  verges  on  total  insensibility  to  pain.  We  are 
aware  that  in  proportion  to  this  reduction  must  be  the  reduc- 
tion also  of  animal  enjoyment  during  life.  But  while  death  is 
the  event  of  a  moment  the  enjoyment  of  life  is  to  be  multi- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  179 

plied  by  all  the  moments  though  which  it  is  prolonged.  Now, 
as  the  myriad  tribes  of  these  inferior  orders  constitute  tlie  sta- 
ple of  animal  food,  the  arrangement  provides,  in  so  far,  for  the 
least  possible  amount  of  suffering;  if,  indeed,  in  their  case, 
there  be  any  suffering  at  all.  4.  And  then,  as  to  one  large 
animal  preying  upon  another,  though  the  sensibility  is  greater, 
•it  is  subject  to  great  deductions  on  some  of  the  grounds  already 
adverted  to ;  and,  by  a  simple,  if  not  a  special,  contrivance, 
death  is  rendered  as  sudden,  and  therefore  as  easy,  as  possible. 
That  the  predatory  animal  should  kill  before  it  begins  to  de- 
vour, is  a  beneficent  provision.  Some  animals,  it  is  well 
known,  seize  on  the  carotid  arteries ;  in  consequence  of  which, 
death  speedily  ensues.  But  the  fact  to  which  we  allude  is, 
that  at  one  particular  point  of  the  neck,  near  the  skull,  a 
wound  of  the  spinal  nerve  produces  instant  death,  and  appa- 
rently without  suffering.  Now,  while  man  has  discovered  this 
fact  only  by  experiment,  the  predatory  animals  have  always 
made  this  part  of  the  spine  the  object  of  attack. 

6.  This  animal  death  is  an  unavoidable  part  of  the  present 
constitution  of  creation.  .  That  constitution,  we  have  shown,  is 
progressive.  In  order  to  prepare  the  earth  for  man,  it  has 
been  subjected  to  successive  revolutions.  The  coal  which 
forms  our  fuel  is  the  produce  of  the  destruction  of  plants,  pre- 
served from  former  worlds.  But  that  provision  involved  the 
death  of  all  the  myriad  forms  of  life  and  enjoyment  with  which 
the  woods  of  the  ancient  earth  were  crowded.  And  were  un- 
known ages  of  animal  enjoyment  to  be  then  withheld,  because 
a  physical  revolution  was  eventually,  and  for  a  time,  to  inter- 
rupt it  ? 

7.  "  But  might  not  these  revolutions  have  been  spared,  and 
the  earth  have  been  created  at  the  first  as  we  now  G.nd  it  ? " 
In  many  respects,  it  is  progressive  still.  The  lichen  and  the 
moss  produce  a  soil  on  which  they  can  no  longer  live-;  new 
races  of  plants  follow^  in  succession,  improving  with  every 
change,  and  occupying  the  once  arid  waste.  Insects  and  rep- 
tiles at  first  possessed  it,  for  it  could  maintain  nothing  better ; 
but  as  it  has  improved,  superior  races  have  successively  come 
into  possession.  Were  ages  of  reptile  and  insect  life  to  be 
withheld,  because  the  progressive  change  involved  theii*  ulti- 
mate extinction,  for  a  higher  order  of  life  ? 

8.  "But  might  not  such  progression  have  been  rendered 
unnecessary  by  making  the  entire  amount  of  animal  and  vege- 
table life,  as  well  as  the  state  of  the  globe,  unchangeable  from 


180  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EAIITH. 

the  beginning?"  The  inquirer  may  not  fore.see  that  this  is  to 
ask,  in  eifect,  whether  the  Divine  Being  might  not  have  adopted 
a  mode  of  government  entirely  and  essentially  diiferent  from 
that  which  He  has  chosen ;  for  if  one  part  be  changed,  every 
part  must  undergo  a  corresponding  change.  A  world  of  im- 
mortal animals  and  plants ;  a  world  that  knew  no  climatic% 
change,  no  seasons,  no  organic  nor.  inorganic  variety  —  a  stag- 
nant and  unprogressive  creation  —  would  be  as  unsuited  to  the 
created  as  to  the  Creating  mind. 

9.  It  might  be  suggested,  also,  that  the  continuance  of  the 
first  created  animals,  and  of  everything  else  to  correspond, 
would  force  on  the  attention  of  man  evidence  of  their  miracu- 
lous origin,  too  obvious  and  overbearing  for  a  system  of  free 
agency.  Besides  which,  (and  this  is  the  adequate  answer  to 
the  implied  objection,)  such  an  unchangeable  state  of  the  ani- 
mate creation  would  inconceivably  diminish  the  amount  of 
animal  enjoyment.  So  that  if  the  greatest  degree  and  diffu- 
sion of  such  enjoyment  be  the  object  in  view,  the  supposed  . 
change  would  defeat  itself  That  object  can  be  obtained  only 
by  death,  and  specially  by  the  system  of  prey.  And  shall  the 
comparatively  small  amount  of  pain  which  that  system  involves 
prevent  the  incalculable  amount  of  animal  fecundity  and  en- 
joyment which  it  necessarily  presupposes  ?  For  the  right 
view  of  this  part  of  the  question  seems  to  be  that,  if  animals 
are  to  be  sustained  by  food,  it  is  more  consistent  with  the 
greatest  amount  of  enjoyment  that  a  certain  proportion  of  that 
food  should  be  animated,  and  be  filled  with  pleasure  until  it  is 
wanted,  than  that  it  should  be  inanimate  and  incapable  of  en- 
joyment, i  • 

10.  "  Then  might  not  animal  life  have  been  sustained  on 
vegetable  food  alone?"  Not  only  would  such  an  arrange- 
ment—  as  we  have  seen  —  inconceivably  diminish  the  amount 
of  animal  life  and  enjoyment  which  exists  under  the  present 
arrangement,  it  would  still  leave  death  in  the  animal  world, 
from  the  ten  thousand  sources  of  what  are  called  accident. 
The  foot  of  the  ox  would  crush  the  insects  in  the  grass  ;  the 
breeze  waft  them  by  myriads  into  the  stream  ;  and  the  evapo- 
ration and  exhaustion  of  the  lake  leave  the  fish  dead  on  the 
shore.  Nothing  less  than  perpetual  miracle  could  have  saved 
them  from  destruction.  And  thus  it  is,  in  the  all-related  sys- 
tem of  creation,  that  a  single  essential  alteration  would  throw 

*  See  Note  E. 


SENNII'.NT    EXISTENCE.  181 

the  whole  into  disorder,  or  be  a  virtual  repeal  of  the  entire 
scheme ;  and  that  every  objection  made  against  it  involves  an 
mcalcidahle  reduction  of  animal  life  and  enjoyment^  and  is 
therefore  incompatible  with  the  Divine  benevolence. 

11.  "  Then  might  not  animal  death  have  been  unaccompan- 
ied even  with  the  smallest  degree  of  suffering  ?  "  To  this  olyec- 
tion  it  seems  to  be  a  sufficient  reply,  that  sensibility  to  pain  is  but 
the  necessary  alternative  to  sensibility  to  pleasure ;  —  that  in 
few  things  is  the  beneficence  of  God  more  strikingly  apparent 
than  in  the  arbitrary  manner  in  which  he  has  arranged  the  ani- 
mal system  so  as  to  economise  pain ;  rendering  each  nerve  be- 
longing to  a  sense,  for  instance,  sensitive  to  pain  only  from  the 
excess  of  that  impression  which  constitutes  its  peculiar  function, 
(as  the  optic  nerve  from  excess  of  light,  but  not  from  excess  of 
sound  also,  and  that  of  the  ear  from  excess  of  sound,  but  not 
of  hght ; )  —  that  this  sensibiHty  to  pain  operates  as  a  necessary 
warning  of  danger,  without  which  the  animal  would  soon  and 
inevitably  perish ;  so  that  its  benevolent  language  is  emphati- 
cally, "  Do  thyself  no  harm ;  take  timely  warning,  and  be 
happy  ;"  —  and  that  this  possibility  of  pain  could  not  be  sepa- 
rated from  the  powers  of  sense  without  miraculous  interposi- 
tion, since  it  is  the  natural  consequence  of  their  functions.  In 
addition  to  which,  it  should  be  observed,  that  where  death  is 
the  simple  consequence  of  age,  the  power  of  feeling  does  grad- 
ually cease  before  that  event  arrives.  It  is  benevolently  ar- 
ranged that  the  prior  departure  of  physical  sensibility  shall 
leave  the  final  struggle  to  be  carried  on  by  the  vital  powers 
alone.  So  that  the  animal  passes  through  a  state  of  stupor 
into  the  sleep  of  death. 

12.  According  to  the  existing  arrangements  of  creation,  then, 
we  behold,  on  the  one  hand,  a  system  of  provisions  for  securing 
the  greatest  amount  of  animal  life  ;  for  only  a  small  proportion 
of  it  could  find  the  necessary  sustenance  in  any  other  way  than 
that  of  prey ;  so  that  if  animals,  we  repeat,  are  to  be  sustained 
by  food,  it  is  more  consistent  with  the  Divine  goodness  that  a 
certain  proportion  of  that  food  should  be  animated  and  filled 
with  enjoyment  until  it  is  wanted,  than  that  it  should  be  inani- 
mate and  incapable  of  pleasure.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
find  a  number  of  remarkable  provisions  for  reducing  the  paia 
involved  in  this  system  of  animal  enjoyment,  to  the  smallest 
amount.  Other  and  higher  considerations  we  omit ;  such  as 
the  fact  that  animal  sensibility  forms  a  perpetual  appeal  to 
human  sensibihty,  and  is  an  important  means  of  its  improve- 

16 


182  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ment ;  and  the  manner  in  which  the  progressiveness  of  crea- 
tion is  made  subservient  to  the  moral  education  and  advance- 
ment of  the  beings  to  whom  the  Divine  Manifestation  is  made, 
and  worthy  of  Him  who  makes  it.  But  we  are  content  with 
having  shown  that  a  fact  which  might  at  first  appear  to  dimin- 
ish the  claims  of  the  Divine  goodness,  becomes,  when  viewed 
in  its  relations,  an  occasion  for  enlarging  our  conceptions  of 
Creative  benevolence,  by  showing  that  it  secures  animal  exist- 
ence and  enjoyment  to  the  greatest  amount. 

13.  And  thus  we  have  found,  as  the  great  Reason  led  us  to 
expect,  that  every  stage  and  object  of  creation  is  an  exponent 
of  some  characteristic  of  the  Divine  Nature. 


II. 

The 'past  brought  forwards.  — ^^By  the  principle  which  requires 
that  the  laws  of  the  past  should  he  brought  forwards  to  the  present^ 
we  are  led  to  expect  that  the  elements  and  results  of  the  mine- 
ral and  vegetable  kingdom  will  be  found  brought  on  into  the 
animal  kingdom. 

1.  Accordingly,  though  the  animal  is  more  withdrawn  from 
the  inorganic  world,  in  point  of  rank,  than  the  vegetable,  it  is 
still  amenable  to  all  those  laws  of  inanimate  matter  which 
make  it  a  part  of  the  great  material  system.  Here  is  the 
law  of  gravitation,  by  which  the  animal  stands.  Here  is  me- 
chanical force,  illustrating  its  laws,  and  distributing  its  levers 
and  fulcra,  in  a  way  which  enables  it  to  fulfil  a  thousand  dis- 
tinct purposes.  The  various  secretions  are  complicated  pro- 
ducts of  chemical  action ;  though  no  artificial  chemistry  can 
imitate  them.  Here  light  and  air  find  appropriate  organs  ;  and 
electricity  finds  functions  and  properties  expressly  adapted  for 
its  development  and  action.  The  same  laws  which  operate  in  the 
formation  of  the  silicious  crystals,  here  compose  the  skeleton 
of  many  zoophytes,  and  the  calcareous  crystals  of  many  radia- 
ted animals.  The  simple  symmetry  of  vertebrate  animals,  and 
the  pentagonal  symmetry  of  radiate  animals,  show  that  we  are 
still  investigating  the  productions  of  a  Being  who  is  acting  on 
general  principles,  and  filling  up  a  plan.  While  the  presence 
of  organic  life  in  its  leading  functions,  nutrition  and  reproduc- 
tion, shows  that  the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  are  con- 
nected parts  of  a  great  whole.  Of  these  facts,  numerous  illus- 
trations will- occur  as  we  proceed;  none  of  them,  however, 
tending  to  efface  the  great      chacteristics  which  separate  the 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  •  183 

organic  kingdom  from  the  inorganic,  and  the  animal  kingdom 
from  both. 

2.  Thus  we  have  seen  pre-existing  laws  brought  on  into 
each  succeeding  stage  of  creation;  the  inorganic  into  the 
organic,  and  both  these  into  the  animal  kingdom. 

in. 

Progress.  —  Our  theory  leads  us  to  inquire  next  for  the  in- 
dications of  progress,  or  for  the  irdroduction  of  new  laws.  And 
we  find  animal  life  superadded  to  the  vegetable  or  organic  life. 
Now  it  is  obvious  to  remark  that  the  comparison  of  the  two 
must  be  drawn,  not  between  the  highest  form  of  the  one  and 
the  lowest  form  of  the  other,  but  between  the  more  elaborate 
and  perfect  forms  of  each  division.  Were  it  our  object  to 
show  the  contiguity  and  continuity  of  the  two  organized  king- 
doms, we  might  then  (as  we  shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to 
do)  point  out  the  principles  which  they  have  in  common,  and 
the  points  at  which  they  appear  to  touch  and  even  blend.  But 
in  illustrating  their  distinctive  characteristics,  it  would  be  as 
irrelevant  to  compare  the  lowest  state  of  animal  life  with  the 
highest  form  of  vegetable  life,  as  it  would  be  to  compare  the 
lowest  form  of  vegetation  with  the  highest  form  of  animal 
existence.  Taking  both,  however,  in  their  more  perfect  states, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  animal  world  diifers  from  the  vegeta- 
ble, as  widely  as  both  these  differ  from  the  mineral.  So 
marked  is  this  difference,  that  were  the  various  endowments 
which  are  distributed  separately  throughout  the  whole  vegeta- 
ble world  to  be  concentrated  in  a  single  plant,  the  superiority 
of  an  animal,  taken  promiscuously  from  the  herd,  would  still 
be  instantly  and  abundantly  manifest. 

2.  When  treating  of  vegetable  physiology,  we  saw  that 
organic  life  includes  a  series  of  functions  by  which  the  individ- 
ual plant  is  preserved  and  the  species  continued.  Now  the 
physiology  of  animals  discloses  the  fact,  that  they  possess  func- 
tions analogous  to  those  of  vegetables ;  and  that,  in  addition  to 
these,  and  distinct  from  them,  they  possess  also  the  functions 
of  a  higher  order  of  life,  involving  sensibility  and  locomotion. 
Each  kind  of  life  has  its  own  system  of  organs.  The  centre  of 
the  organic  life  is  the  heart ;  of  the  animal  life,  the  brain.  The 
functions  of  organic  life  act  continuously ;  those  of  animal  life 
intermittingly.  The  former  operate  unconsciously  and  in- 
voluntarily ;  the  latter  not  so.     Such  ai*e  some  of  the  lead- 


184  ^        THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ing  distinctions  between  tlie  functions  of  organic  and  animal 
life. 

3.  Accordingly,  Bichat  lias  shown  (and  the  distinction  is 
now  generally  accepted,i)  that  the  natural  division  of  the  com- 
plex animal  system  is  twofold.  Such  parts  as  the  heart,  the 
intestines,  and  whatever  acts  independently  of  the  will,  and 
withotit  the  consciousness  of  the  subject,  belong  to  what  he 
denominates  the  vegetative  or  organic  life.  While  the  senses, 
and  the  parts  that  bring  the  system  into  voluntary  relation 
with  the  external  world,  he  calls  the  animal  life.  In  the  plant, 
life  is  endowed  only,  at  most,  with  the  property  of  excitability ; 
in  the  animal,  it  superadds  to  this  property,  those  of  sensation, 
perception,  passion,  mental  association,  and  impelled  volition, 
foUowed  by  the  expression  of  that  volition  in  muscular  contrac- 
tion. To  the  plant  is  assigned  the  power  of  drawing  nourish- 
ment from  inorganic  matter  —  mere  earths,  salts,  and  airs; 
while  the  aliments  by  which  animals  are  nourished  are  derived 
from  animal  or  vegetable  substances  alone.  Whence  plants, 
says  M.  Richerand,  may  be  considered  as  the  laboratories  in 
which  nature  prepares  ahment  for  animals;  and  thus,  we  may 
add,  emphatically  seals  their  superiority. 

4.  But  what  is  the  nature  of  that  instinctive  mind  by  which 
the  animal  is  especially  distinguished  from  the  vegetable  crea- 
tion ?  The  difficulty  of  giving  what  may  be  deemed  a  satisfac- 
tory reply  to  this  question,  arises,  perhaps,  not  so  much  from 
any  inherent  profundity  in  the  sulDJect,  as  from  our  necessary 
ignorance,  or  inabihty  to  obtain  the  requisite  data;  and  from 
the  prepossessions  respecting  it  of  those  who  are  too  much 
amused  with  the  facts  to  examine  the  reasons,  and  who  would 
rather  "see  in  the  shifting  cloud  what  shapes  they  please." 

5.  With  a  view  to  a  reply,  however,  let  us  first  mark  the 
distinctions  which  exist  among  the  functions  of  the  animal  life 
itself.  Analogous  in  office  to  the  excitability  of  the  plant,  is 
the  sensibility  of  the  animal ;  though  the  latter  is  secured  by  a 
nobler  arrangement  than  the  corresponding  property  in  the 
vegetable,  and  is  made  to  answer  additional  ends.  The  animal 
is  placed  in  new  and  wonderful  relations  to  the  external  world 
by  the  organs  of  touch,  hearing,  sight,  &c.  United  to  these 
organs  is  a  system  of  nerves  which  conveys  "  sensations  from 
the  organs  of  sense  inwards,  so  as  to  make  these  sensations  the 

^  See  Dr.  Playfair's  Abstract  of  Liebig's  Report  on  Organic  Chemistry 
applied  to  Physiology  and  Pathology,  read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  British 
Association,  1842. 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  185 

objects  of  the  animal's  consciousness."  And  in  "the  hio-her 
animals  these  impressions  upon  the  nerves  are  all  conveyed  to 
one  organ,  the  brain."  Here  then  is  one  step  towards  an 
explanation  of  the  functions  of  animal  life. 

6.  But  what  part  of  its  physical  structure  is  it  by  which  the 
animal  on  receiving  these  impressions  changes  its  posture,  its 
place,  or  its  action  ?  It  is  now  satisfactorily  ascertained  that 
the  immediate  agents  in  such  motions  are  the  muscles.  The 
property  by  which,  under  natural  stunulus,  they  produce 
raotion,  has  been  termed  irritability,  or,  more  properly,  contrac- 
tility, from  the  manner  in  which  they  contract  in  the  movement 
of  the  limbs.  Here,  then,  is  another  and  a  distinct  step  in  the 
explanation.  ^  The  sensations  which  the  animal  feels,  and  the 
muscular  action  which  it  consequently  exerts,  may  be  insepara- 
bly connected ;  yet  are  they  obviously  distinguishable.  Animal 
sensibiUty  has  the  nerves  for  its  organs ;  animal  contractility, 
the  muscles.  The  former  is  the  passive;  the  latter,  the  active 
element  of  animal  Hfe.  The  former  seems  preparatory  to 
whatever  of  instinct,  intelligence,  or  mind  may  be  expressed 
by  the  latter.  So  that  between  these  two  extreme  term^  lies 
the  sphere  of  our  present  inquiry. 

7.  Now,  if  we  mark  the  effect  directly  consequent  on  certain 
sensations,  we  shall  find  that  the  animal  appears  to  have 
received  a  notice  or  knowledge  of  the  external  object  which 
has  occasioned  them.  And  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  is 
called  perception.  Here,  then,  is  a  connection  apparently  men- 
tal. The  knowledge  resulting  from  the  sensation,  reveals  the 
existence  of  animal  mind ;  of  something,  at  least,  which  is  not 
material,  and  which  is  not  merely  vital ;  but  is  distinct  from, 
and  superior  to,  both. 

8.^  If  next,  we  mark  the  effect  consequent  on  certain  per- 
ceptions, we  shall  find  that  they  are  apparently  followed  by 
volitions :  by  which  we  mean  that  mental  act  which  immediate- 
ly determines  muscular  action.  And  thus  there  intervenes 
between  the  two  states  of  sensation  and  muscular  contraction, 
the  two  links  of  perception  and  voUtion.  So  that  "  the  cycle 
of  operations  which  appears  to  take  place  when  animals  act  in 
reference  to  external  objects  is  this,  sensation,  perception, 
volition,  muscular  contraction ;  "^  the  brain  being  the  seat  or 
centre  to  wliich  sensation  tends,  and  from  which  voHtion  pro- 
ceeds. 


^  Dr.  Whewell's  Philosophy  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  ii.  p.  71. 
16* 


186  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

It  is  not  intended  by  these  remarks  that  the  supposed  men- 
tal part  of  this  process  clearly  and  consciously  attends  every 
animal  action.  At  least,  man,  while  performing  the  ordinary 
acts  of  breathing,  walking,  &c.,  is  but  faintly  conscious  of  the 
sensations  and  volitions  which  these  acts  imply.  So  that,  in 
representing  the  sensation  and  muscular  action  of  animals  as 
connected  by  the  intermediate  process  of  perception  and  voli- 
tion, we  must  be  regarded  as  stating  only  an  extreme  case. 

But,  at  this  stage  of  the  subject,  the  question  arises,  whether 
the  cycle  we  have  described  includes  the  whole  of  the  process 
belonging  to  the  operation  of  animal  mind  or  instinct ;  or, 
whether,  in  addition  to  the  four  steps  named,  there  may  not  be 
at  least  a  fifth.  In  entertaining  this  question,  indeed,  we  shall 
be  anticipating  that  side  of  the  subject  which  compares  the 
animal  with  the  human  mind ;  yet,  an  adequate  view  of  the 
inquiry  will  not  allow  us  to  postpone  it. 

Now,  it  will  be  admitted,  that,  in  the  human  mind,  at  least, 
one  additional  link  intervenes  between  perception  and  volition. 
To  this  link  we  will  give  the  general  name,  not  of  understand- 
ing, but  of  reason ;  by  which  we  mean,  the  power  which  the 
mind  has  of  deducing  universal  truths  from  particular  appear- 
ances, or  of  contemplating  the  ideal  relations  of  things;  and 
of  willing  or  determining,  in  harmony  with  such  ideas,  on  the 
means  necessary  to  the  attainment  of  a  proposed  end.  The 
question  to  be  decided,  then,  may  assume  this  simple  form,  is 
the  volition  of  brutes  determined  without  the  intervention  of 
reason  ? 

The  great  end  of  instinct  appears  to  be  the  preservation  of 
life  in  the  individual,  and  its  perpetuation  in  the  species.  That 
man  occasionally  trains  and  turns  it  to  a  different  account, 
does  not  affect  the  truth  of  the  statement.  During  all  the 
ages  prior  to  human  existence,  and  wherever  the  animal  is  left 
undisturbed  by  the  influence  of  human  reason,  the  direct  and 
only  reference  of  its  instincts  is  to  the  continuance  of  its  race. 
And  as  this  is  their  only  obvious  end,  so  the  various  ways  in 
which  it  is  gained,  by  the  different  species,  is  evidently  pre- 
determined by  the  organization  peculiar  to  each.  From  which 
it  is  inferred  by  some  that  wherever  there  is  life  there  is 
instinct ;  or,  that  instinct  and  life  are  co-extensive. 

9.  Instinctive  motions,  viewed  in  this  enlarged  sense,  are  of 
difiterent  classes.  First,  there  are  those  which  belong  to .  or- 
ganic life,  and  which  may  be  called  vital.  These  are  common 
to  plants  and  animals ;  such  as  the  involuntary  processes  of 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  187 

secretion  and  assimilation.  But  whether  these  processes  shouh] 
be  regarded  as  instinctive  or  not,  is  immaterial  to  the  i)rinci- 
pal  point  at  issue. 

10.  Second,  there  are  those  instincts  which  call  into  action 
the  muscles  considered  to  be  under  the  control  of  volition,  and 
which  may  be  called  adaptive.  Such  are  the  actions  of  the 
new-born  young  of  animals ;  the  beautiful  and  perfect  nest- 
building  of  birds  ;  and  the  mathematical  cell-making  of  bees. 
These  constitute  the  great  class  of  actions,  allowed,  on  almost 
all  hands,  to  be  strictly  instinctive ;  and  whose  direct  tendency 
is  to  the  continuance  of  animal  existence.  And  yet,  as  far  as 
the  animal  is  promoting  this  object,  it  is  evidently  acting  to- 
wards an  end  which  is  unknown  to  itself;  and,  therefore,  act- 
ing blindly.  Agreeably  to  Paley's  definition  of  instinct,  it  is 
acting  "  prior  to  experience,  and  independent  of  instruction," 
and,  we  might  add,  with  a  perfection  which  no  instruction  could 
teach,  and  no  experience  improve. 

11.  And,  thirdly,  there  are  those  which  appear  to  be  the 
result  of  experience,  and  which  discover  a  power  of  selecting 
means  for  proximate  ends  according  to  varying  circumstances : 
these  may  be  said  to  be  mental.  To  this  class  of  actions  per- 
tain those  remarkable  instances  of  animal  sagacity,  at  the  reci- 
tal of  which  every  one  has  been  more  or  less  interested  and 
astonished,  and  which  have  even  suggested  to  some  the  extrav- 
agant idea  of  a  system  of  animal  metaphysics. 

The  remainder  of  our  remarks  on  instinct  will  be  restricted 
to  this  class  ;  and  our  object  will  be  to  show  that,  even  allow- 
ing some  mental  act  to  intervene,  in  such  instances,  between 
perception  and  volition,  that  intermediate  act  or  operation  is 
not  what  we  intend  by  reasoning. 

1.  That  an  action  ascribable  to  reason  in  man,  would,  when 
performed  by  an  animal,  be  hastily  ascribed  to  the  same  prin- 
ciple, was  antecedently  probable.  But  to  do  this  is  to  forget 
that  just  as  rational,  and  quite  analogous,  would  it  be  to  infer, 
that  because  the  bird  constructs  its  nest  by  instinct,  and  the 
bee  its  cell,  therefore,  if  a  man  attempts  an  imitation  of  that 
nest  or  that  cell,  he  acts  under  the  impulse  of  instinct  also. 

2.  If  what  the  animal  does  evidently  from  instinct,  is  done 
better,  and  is  of  greater  importance  to  the  end  of  its  existence, 
than  that  which  it  does  from  what  some  would  ascribe  to  a 
higher  faculty,  it  seems  unphilosophical  to  ascribe  the  superior 
efforts  to  the  inferior  principle,  and  the  lower  efforts  to  the 
liigher  principle.     Now,  probably,  no  one  supposes  that  the 


188  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

lamb  when  it  first  follows  its  mother,  and  adapts  its  muscular 
action  to  the  form  of  the  ground,  knows  anything  of  the  geo- 
metrical relations  which  the  action  involves  ;  or  that  the  dog, 
in  hunting  only  a  certain  kind  of  animal,  and  in  crossing  the 
field  repeatedly,  to  scent  it,  knows  anything  of  the  doctrines 
of  Resemblance  and  of  Space ;  or  that  the  bird,  in  its  first 
flight,  adjusting  its  effort  to  the  distance  and  height  of  the  flight 
with  mechanical  precision,  really  recognises  the  doctrine  of 
force.  All  this  is  attributed  to  instinct.  If  then,  under  differ; 
ent  circumstances,  the  animal  should  afterwards  be  found  act- 
ing differently,  consistency  would  seem  to  require  that  the  dif- 
ference should  be  ascribed  to  the  provisional  operation  of  the 
same  instinct.  If  the  bird'  on  perceiving  that  the  rising  stream 
is  approaching  its  half-finished  nest,  begins  to  build  higher  up 
the  bank,  it  does  but  build  on  the  spot  where  it  would  have 
placed  its  nest  at  first,  had  the  waters  then  been  as  high  as 
they  have  since  become,  and  the  end  in  both  cases  is  the  same 
—  the  continuance  of  its  species. 

3.  If  animals  ever  perform  actions  from  instruction  or  ex- 
perience, to  which  human  sagacity  would  be  unequal,  it  must 
result  either  from  an  instinctive  intelligence,  or  (which  would 
be  proving  too  much,)  from  the  exercise  of  a  reason  superior 
to  man's.  Now  the  great  majority  of  the  remarkable  feats  re- 
lated of  animals  are  of  this  description.  The  advocates  of 
brute  rationality,  in  their  anxiety  to  do  the  best  for  their 
clients,  adduce  illustrations  of  so  remarkable  a  nature  as  to 
show  that  no  human  reason  would  have  been  competent  to 
such  doings.  Such,  for  example,  are  those  instances  in  which 
an  animal  reads  in  the  countenance  of  its  master  that  he  con- 
templates its  destruction,  and  absents  itself  accordingly ;  or  in 
which  it  knows,  better  perhaps  than  its  master,  that  he  is  about 
to  take  a  certain  favorite  walk,  and  runs  on  before  to  secure  a 
share  in  the  enjoyment ;  or,  in  which  it  finds  its  way  straight 
home  again  when  it  had  been  taken  by  a  circuitous  route,  and 
blindfolded,  to  a  great  distance.  It  was  this  want  of  discrim- 
ination, in  ascribing  to  reason,  actions  which  had  not  afforded 
scope  for  reasoning,  and  which  were  too  quick  and  too  certain 
for  anything  but  instinct,  which  led  Descartes  i  to  say,  "  their 
doing  many  things  better  than  ourselves  does  not  prove  them 
to  be  endowed  with  reason,  for  this  would  prove  them  to  have 
more  reason  than  we  have,  and  that  they  are  capable  of  excell- 

^  In  Ills  treatise  De  Methodo. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  189 

ing  US  in  all  other  things  also ;  but  it  rather  proves  them  to  be 
void  of  reason." 

4.  If  the  most  wonderful  feats  of  animal  sagacity  are  tlie 
result  of  human  instruction,  such  instances  only  show  the 
adaptiveness,.  within  certain  fixed  and  narrow  limits,  of  the 
mental  instinct.  It  was  antecedently  probable,  in  a  world 
whose  regularity  is  made  consistent  with  variety,  and  whose 
every  principle  admits  of  diversified  application,  that  the  high- 
er order  of  animals  would  find  scope  for  their  instinctive  mind 
within  a  certain  range.  Even  the  plant  has  a  confined  power 
of  adapting  itself  to  circumstances.  It  is  only  in  analogy  with 
nature,  that  the  dog,  for  example,  the  most  instinctively  saga- 
gious  of  animals,  if  he  become  the  companion  of  man,  and  so 
be  made  to  feel  indirectly  the  influence  of  the  human  mind, 
should  have  all  its  better  adaptations  brought  to  Hght ;  though 
itself  entirely  unconscious  of  the  fact.  Compared  with  its  con- 
dition in  the  preadamite  earth,  the  domestic  dog  is  now  in 
another  world,  walking  among  gods.  "  Man  is  to  him  instead 
of  a  god,  or  melior  natural  ^  And,  while  there  is  no  ground 
to  believe  that,  if  the  canine  race  existed  a  thousand  ages  be- 
fore man  appeared  on  the  earth,  a  single  trait  of  the  instinctive 
sagacity  we  now  so  much  admire,  had  ever  been  exhibited  by 
them,  so  neither  is  there  reason  to  conclude  that  such  sagacity 
is  now  the  result  of  anything  higher  than  an  instinctive  adap- 
tiveness, of  which  they  themselves  have  no  intelligent  per- 
ception. 

5.  If,  again,  the  power  of  performing  extraordinary  feats  be 
hereditary,  it  cannot  be  the  result  of  reason  or  of  knowledge ; 
for  knowledge  and  reason  are  not,  in  this  way  transmissible. 
A  paper  of  Mr.  Knight's,  read  before  the  Royal  Society,  2 
shows  that  even  the  acquired  faculties  of  dogs  —  the  expei^t- 
ness  they  gain  by  teaching,  descends  in  the  race.  ""He  found 
the  young  and  untaught  ones  (springing  spaniels)  as  skilful  as 
the  old  ones,  not  only  in  finding  and  raising  the  woodcocks,  but 
in  knowing  the  exact  degree  of  frost  which  will  drive  those 
birds  to  springs  and  rills  of  unfrozen  water."  It  is  evident 
that  such  a  fact  cannot  be  adduced  in  favor  of  animal  ration- 
ality;  for  the  knowledge  exhibited  was  strangely  possessed 
without  instruction  or  experience ;  and  the  reasoning,  if  there 
had  been  any,  being  destitute  of  data,  must  have  been  nothing 
less  than  a  train  of  a  priori  speculation. 

*  Baton's  Essay  on  Atheism. 

*  Quoted  in  Lord  Brougham's  Dissertations,  &.C.,  vol.  i.  j).  140 


190     .  THE    PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

•  6.  Among  the  presumptive  proofs  against  the  rationality  of 
animals,  it  is,  we  think,  justly  alleged  that,  while  man  can 
transmit  the  knowledge  which  he  has  gained  by  experience, 
from  generation  to  generation,  conscious  of  its  being  experi- 
ence, and  that  it  is  capable  of  receiving  indefinite  addition  and 
application,  the  experience  of  animals,  confined  at  most  within 
narrow  limits,  is  incapable  of  accumulation  and  transmission. 
So  that  the  bee  and  the  beaver  of  to-day,  build  no  better  than 
the  bee  and  the  beaver  of  a  thousand  years  ago. 

7.  Another  fact,  of  the  same  class,  noticed  by  Adam  Smith, 
is,  that  animals  practice  nothing  approaching  to  barter.  The 
most  barbarous  South  Sea  Islander  will  eagerly  part  with  his 
rude  ornaments  and  his  food  for  a  piece  of  iron.  But  even  the 
animal  which  collects  stores  for  the  winter,  shows  that,  in  mak- 
ing this  provision,  he  is  impelled  by  instinct  and  not  by  fore- 
sight, for  he  is  incapable  of  making  an  exchange  which  might 
exempt  him  from  the  trouble  of  collecting  stores. 

8.  But,  perhaps,  the  great  fact  which  lies  against  the  ra- 
tionality of  brutes,  is,  that  they  are  destitute  of  the  power  of 
speech.  To  say  that  they  have  voices,  or  articulate  language, 
adequate  to  the  indication  of  certain  appetites  and  passions, 
only  increases  the  force  of  the  remark.  For  how  unlikely  is 
it  that  they  would  be  endowed  with  the  means  of  expressing 
animal  feelings,  and  be  denied  the  power  of  imparting  ideas, 
supposing  them  to  have  ideas  to  impart.  And  besides  the 
inconsistency,  perhaps  few  things  would  seem  to  impugn  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator  more,  than  to  withhold  from  a  crea- 
ture capable  of  even  very  limited  reasoning,  the  faculty  of  ex- 
pressing and  imparting  its  reasonings. 

9.  But  it  may  be  asked,  whether  the  power  of  inarticulate 
signs  which  animals  possess,  may  not  be  adequate  to  the  com- 
munication of  thought  ?  "  The  intention  and  the  capacity,  of 
expressing  thought"  says  W.  Humboldt,^  "  is  the  only  thing 
which  characterizes  the  articulate  sound ;  and  nothing  else  can 
be  fixed  on  to  designate  its  difference  from  the  animal  cry  on 
the  one  hand,  or  the  musical  tone  on  the  other."  To  which  it 
may  be  sufficient  to  add,  that,  arguing  from  analogy,  inarticu- 
late cries  serve  only  for  the  expression  of  sensations  and  pas- 
sions. Hence  man,  during  infancy,  when  he  has  only  feel- 
ings to  express,  has  only  the  limited  signs  and  cries  of  the 
animal.     With  the  dawning  of  thought  conies  its  appropriate 

'  Quoted  ii  Liebcr's  Political  Ethics,  p.  12. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  191 

vehicle,  speech ;  ar.d,  aUhoiigh,  afterwards,  thought  and  feel- 
ing are  generally  combined  in  his  vocal  communications,  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that,  in  proportion  as  he  essays  to  express 
unmingled  feeling  or  passion,  as  in  moments  of  great  danger 
or  pain,  he  invariably  falls  back  on  inarticulate  sounds  and  in- 
terjections. 

10.  As  little  would  it  serve  the  purpose  of  an  objector,  and 
as  much  serve  our  own,  to  say  that  the  animal  is  not  entirely 
denied  the  organs  of  speech ;  for  this  would  only  increase  the 
incongruity  of  giving  an  animal  both  reason,  and  organs  for 
expressing  it,  and  yet  withholding  from  it  the  medial  link, 
whatever  it  may  be,  necessary  to  connect  and  develop  both. 
That  some  animals,  especially  birds,  have  at  least  imperfect 
organs  of  speech,  is  evident,  for  they  can  be  taught  to  speak  ; 
and  the  only  reason  which  can  be  assigned  why  they  do  not 
utter  a  single  untaught  sentence  of  their  own,  is  that  they  have 
not  a  single  thought  to  express.  For  "  in  a  question  respect- 
ing the  possession  of  reason,  the  absence'  of  all  proof  is  tan- 
tamount to  a  proof  of  the  contrary."  i 

11.  But,  while  the  train  of  our  remarks  impels  us  to  the  con- 
clusion that,  in  the  mental  process  of  the  animal,  reason  does 
not  intervene  between  its  perceptions  and  its  volitions,  it  forci- 
bly indicates  what  may  or  does  intervene,  namely,  the  opera- 
tion of  appetites,  passions,  habits,  and,  not  recollection,  but 
memory  or  associations  of  past  impressions.  To  the  expres- 
sion of  these  alone,  its  sounds  and  signs  are  adequate ;  and  of 
these  alone  we  believe  it  to  be  conscious.  As  sensation  issues 
in  perception,  perception  awakens  desire  or  attachment,  aver- 
sion or  anger,  fear  or  the  operation  of  habit,  or  some  past 
impression  or  mental  association ;  the  influence  of  this  again 
determines  the  vohtions  necessarily,  and  determines  them  dif- 
ferently according  as  they  act  feebly  or  powerfully,  singly 
or  in  combination ;  while  the  volitions,  so  determined,  issue  in 
corresponding  muscular  action.  The  relation  of  the  Divine 
agency  to  animal  instinct,  will  be  a  subject  for  after  consid- 
eration. 

12.  Having  thus  considered  the  subject  independently,  we 
may  now  be  allowed  to  glance  at  it  in  its  relation  to  the  un- 
folding of  that  great  system  of  Divine  procedure  of  which  it 
forms  a  part.  We  are  not  aware  that  the  conclusions  at  which 
we  have  ai-rived  have  been  in  the  least  degree  biassed  by  a 

'  Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflection,  p.  294 


192  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

reference  to  that  system.  If,  therefore,  on  comparing  them 
with  the  expectations  wliich  tliat  system  would  naturally  sug- 
gest, we  find  them  harmonize  with  each  other,  we  shall  be  en- 
titled to  regard  such  harmony  as  additional  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  our  conclusions.  And  besides  this,  we  shall  feel  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  bring  our  independent  conclusions 
to  the  test  of  an  independent  system,  and  of  there  finding,  so 
to  speak,  a  place  awaiting  these  conclusions.  For  to  the  want 
of  such  a  test  it  is,  we  think,  to  be  chiefly  ascribed  that  so 
much  diversity  and  uncertainty  of  opinion  on  the  subject,  pre- 
vails. We  will  only  premise  farther,  that  it  is  not  our  pur- 
pose to  do  more  at  present  than  barely  to  indicate  some  of 
those  expectations  to  which  we  refer ;  leaving  the  more  com- 
plete exposition  of  them  to  their  proper  places  in  the  coming 
sections. 

13.  If,  for  instance,  in  our  hypothetical  visit  to  the  scene 
of  the  advancing  creation,  we  had  been  forewarned  that  the 
animal  kingdom  was  only  to  form  a  part  of  the  creation,  but 
was  not  to  be  that  part  to  which  the  Divine  manifestation  was 
to  be  made,  what  more  reasonable  than  to  expect  that  we 
should  find  a  form  of  existence  naturally  incapable  of  recog- 
nising the  great  design  ?  Now  this  is  to  expect  that  the  ani- 
mal kingdom  will  be  found  irrational ;  destitute  alike  of  that 
faculty  of  concluding  universal  truths  from  particular  appear- 
ances, which  would  have  referred  it  back  to  its  origin ;  and  of 
that  power  of  proposing  an  ultimate  end,  and-  of  determining 
the  will  by  ideas,  which  would  have  pointed  it  on  to  the  chief 
and  last  end  of  all  things.  And  accordingly,  we  do  not  find 
that  it  exhibits  the  least  evidence  of  reason  thus  interpreted. 

14.  But  if  this  stage  of  creation  is  to  manifest  the  goodness 
of  the  Creator,  the  animal  must  not  be  endowed  even  with  the 
power  of  recognising  its  humble  position  in  the  scale  of  crea- 
tion, otherwise  its  enjoyment  might  be  completely  marred. 
Accordingly,  it  occupies  its  place  as  a  link,  unconscious  of  its 
office,  in  the  yet  ascending  but  unfinished  series  of  being  ;  and 
is  incapable  alike  of  mentally  "  looking  before  or  after." 

15.  But,  though  unconscious  of  the  ultimate  design  of  crea- 
tion, an  end  it  must  and  does  answer.  The  tendency  of  all  its 
motions,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  is  to  preserve  its  own  life, 
and  to  perpetuate  its  kind.  Yet  must  it  not  be  allowed  to  be 
conscious  that  it  is  answering  even  this  end ;  otherwise  the 
same  mental  power,  which  would  enable  it  to  recognise  this 
fact,  would  enable  it  to  recognise  other  truths,  and  might  fill 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  193 

its  life  with  care  and  anxiety.  Accordingly,  the  bird,  while 
patiently  sitting  on  its  eggs,  week  after  week,  is  ignorant  of 
the  end  to  be  answered.  An  intermediate  or  present  end  may 
be  answered  of  which  it  is  conscious ;  for,  during  every  mo- 
ment of  the  time,  some  sense  may  be  receiving  present  gratifi- 
cation. But  the  purpose  to  which  this  present  enjoyment  is 
subservient  is  that  great  favorite  object  of  nature,  the  continua- 
tion of  the  kind ;  and  this  end  the  animal  is  accomplishing 
blindly  and  unintentionally. 

16.  But  if  the  great  object  of  its  life  is  to  answer  this  end, 
and  if  the  circumstances  in  which,  and  the  external  means  by 
which,  this  end  is  to  be  gained,  vary,  we  may  expect  that  it 
will  not  be  destitute  of  adaptive  power  and  instinctive  intelli- 
gence. Even  the  plant,  we  have  seen,  possesses  the  former  ; 
it  is  only  analogous,  then,  that  to  the  nobler  animal  should  be 
superadded  the  latter.  Accordingly,  the  power  which  the  ani- 
mal possesses  of  unknowingly  profiting  by  experience,  is  sim- 
ply the  slightly  diversified  apphcation  jmd  perseverance  of  in- 
stinct in  gaining  its  own  great  end. 

17.  Farther,  if  the  animal  be  thus  insensible  to  the  ultimate 
end  of  creation,  and  even  of  the  part  which  it  is  made  to  act 
for  the  attainment  of  that  end,  we  may  expect  that  its  signs  of 
communication  will  be  of  a  very  humble  description.  Having 
no  thoughts  to  disclose,  speech,  the  vehicle  of  thought,  will  be 
unnecessary.  Having  nothing  to  express  but  the  feeling  of 
the  moment,  nothing  more  can  be  necessary  than  inarticulate 
signs  ;  and  nothing  more  does  it  possess.  "  The  minister  and 
interpreter  of  nature"  is  yet  to  come. 

18.  In  resumption  of  the  law  now  under  consideration,  then, 
we  remark  that  a  superior  order  of  life  is  here  found  added  to 
the  vegetable  or  organic  life.  By  the  wonderful  addition  of 
the  senses,  the" points  of  relation  between  the  animal  and  the 
external  world  are  multiplied  above  those  of  the  plant  a  thou- 
sand-fold. By  the  properties  of  animal  mind  which  we  have 
already  considered —  sensation,  perception,  passion,  mental  as- 
sociation, and  constrained  volition,  comparatively  inferior  as 
these  may  be,  those  relations  are  further  increased.  The 
powers  of  muscular  contraction  and  locomotion,  by  changing 
the  position  of  the  animal  in  relation  to  external  objects,  and 
by  enabling  it  to  put  itself  in  proximity  or  even  contact  with 
them,  augments  these  relations  still  more.  And  the  faculty 
of  communicating  by  sounds  and  signs  with  the  creatures  of  its 
own  kind,  renders  the  number  of  these  relations  indefinite. 

17 


194  THE    PRE-ADAMTTE    EARTH. 

While  each  of  these  innumerable  relations  is  a  designed  an  * 
calculated  part  of  an  elaborate  system  of  animal  enjoymeriv^ 
And  thus  have  we  illustrated  and  substantiated  the  law  of 
progress. 

Ajid,  here,  it  is  obvious  to  remark,  how  as  each  part  of  crea- 
tion comes  into  existence,  and  becomes  related  to  the  preced- 
ing parts,  certain  terms  progressively  enlarge  their  meaning. 
There  was  a  time,  for  example,  when  the  word  creation,  sup- 
posing there  were  beings  to  employ  it,  meant  only,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  material  system,  chaos  ;  and  when  life  meant  only 
vegetable  existence.  The  doctrine  of  Providence,  in  relation  to 
the  same  material  system,  originally  indicated  much  less  than 
it  has  come  to  mean,  for  there  was  but  little  comparatively  to 
provide  for.  And  so  also  of  the  medial  relation,  —  expressing 
itself  at  first  in  effects  representative  of  an  originating  cause ; 
then  adding  to  these  the  attainment  of  ends  by  the  organiza- 
tion and  employment  of  prepared  means,  representative  of 
power  guided  by  wisdom ;  and  then  endowing  certain  organic 
forms  with  susceptibilities  of  enjoyment,  thus  adding  to  power 
and  wisdom,  goodness,  and  awakening  the  idea  that,  as  we  are 
looking  on  a  progressive  scheme,  the  relation  in  question  will 
yet  express  itself  in  other  and  higher  forms. 

IV. 

Continuity.  —  Distinct  as  is  the  animal  kingdom  from  the 
vegetable,  and  numerous  and  striking  as  are  the  additional 
characteristics  which,  in  some  of  its  departments,  it  exhibits, 
the  progression  will  be  found  to  be,  in  that  general  sense  in 
which  alone  it  can  be  expected,  continuous. 

1.  It  is  continuous  if  regarded  orgaiiically,  or  in  relation  to 
the  vegetable  kingdom.  This  is  evident  from  the  appellation 
given  to  a  large  division  of  organized  bodies,  zoophytes,  or  ani- 
mal plants.  So  imperceptible  are  the  gradations  by  which  the 
two  kingdoms  are  apparently  connected  at  their  origins,  that 
naturaUsts  are  often  divided  as  to  the  kingdom  to  which  many 
well-known  bodies  belong.  And  a  proposition  has  been  en- 
tertained by  more  than  one  scientific  society,  that  certain 
classes  of  organized  beings  should  be  placed  in  a  new  king- 
dom, occupying  a  place  between  plants  and  animals. 

Still,  it  should  be  distinctly  remembered,  that  this  continui- 
ty is  only  apparent  or  general.  It  may  be  an  insensible  gra- 
dation to  us.     To  superior  powers,  the  passage  from  the  vege- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  195 

table  to  the  animal  would  be  visible,  and  could  be  measured. 
To  suppose  that,  because  it  is  difficult  to  assign  the  boundaries 
of  the  two  kingdoms,  therefore  there  are  no  boundaries,  would 
be  as  irrational  as  to  conclude  that,  because  material  atoms  dis- 
appear, first  from  our  unaided  sight,  and  then  vanish  even  be- 
yond the  reach  of  microscopic  power,  there  is  a  point  at  which 
they  graduate  into  nothingness.  A  moment's  reflection  will 
show  us  that,  between  that  supposed  point  and  the  point  be- 
yond, there  is  all  the  difference  between  body  and  space,  some- 
thing and  nothing  —  an  infinite  difference.  In  the  same  man- 
ner, however  slight  the  hreah,  where  the  vegetable  appears  to 
graduate  into  the  animal,  such  an  interruption  there  is  ;  and  it 
is  nothing  less  than  an  interruption  in  kind,  a  transition  from 
identity  to  essential  difference.  Accordingly,  Cuvier  affirms 
the  universal  application  of  the  graduating  principle  to  be  phi- 
losophically untenable ;  and  disclaims  its  rigorous  application 
to  the  objects  even  of  one  and  the  same  kingdom  of  nature.i 
And  even  Lamarck,  than  whom  no  one,  perhaps,  entertains 
more  extravagant  views  of  a  structural  gradation  in  animals, 
expresses  his  belief  that  plants  and  animals,  when  most  resem- 
bling, are  always  distinguishable.'^ 

2.  Progression  is  also  traceable,  in  the  same  general  man- 
ner, in  what  may  be  called  a  geological  or  historical  continuity. 
Physiologists  regard  the  animal  kingdom  as  susceptible  of  a 
fourfold  division,  in  the  following  ascending  order,  —  Zoophytes 
or  Radiata,  animals  whose  parts  are  distributed  around  a  com- 
mon centre,  as  the  star-fish  ;  Mollusca,  pulpy  animals,  inclosed 
wholly  or  pai'tially  in  a  muscular  envelope,  as  the  cuttle-fish  ; 
Annulosa  or  Articulata,  jointed  animals,  as  the  lobster  ; 
and  Vertehrata,  or  animals  with  a  spinal  column.3  This  last 
division  is  composed  of  four  classes,  in  the  following  order,  — 
Fish,  Reptiles,  Birds,  and  Mammals,  or  animals  which  suckle 
their  young.  Now,  as  the  fossil  remains  of  all  these  divisions 
and  classes  are  not  found  together  in  the  lowest  strata  of  the 
earth,  are"  they  found  by  geologists  in  any  order  ;  and,  if  so, 
what  is  that  order  ? 

The  lowest  or  earliest  system  of  rocks  in  which  any  traces 
of  organic  structure  have  been  discovered  are  the  Cambrian. 

*  Regne  Animal,  Pref.,  pp.  xx.  xxi. 

2  Philosoph.  Zoolog.,  torn.  i.  pp.  377,  384,  and  398,  ii^note.  See  Pro- 
fessor Ividd's  B.  Treatise,  pp.  310,  311. 

^  This  is  the  order  of  arrangement  adopted  by  Geoffrey  and  others 
Cuvier's  order  reversed  the  position  of  the  second  and  third  divisions. 


196 


THE    PRE- AD  AMITE    EARTH. 


Here  are  found  in  abundance  the  remains,  not  of  radiata  al^ne, 
but  of  the  second  division  of  the  animal  kingdom  also,  preda- 
ceous  cephalopods,  the  most  advanced  of  all  molluscs  in  or- 
ganic structure  ;  and,  of  the  third  division,  highly  organized 
crustaceans  —  trilobites,  with  reticular  eyes.  In  the  next  sys- 
tem of  the  ascending  series,  the  Silurian  rocks,  some  of  the 
preceding  species  are  found,  «  but,  as  a  group,  the  species  are 
new  and  characteristic."  Here,  first,  a  vertebrate  appears  — 
a  fish.  But  while  the  class  to  which  it  belongs  is  the  lowest 
of  the  four  vertebral  divisions,  the  specimen  itself  belongs  to 
the  highest  order  of  its  class  —  the  placoid.  Indeed,  all  the 
fishes  found  in  this  system  are  of  a  high  organic  structure. 
The  old  rod  sandstone  above  the  Silurian  rocks,  contains  nu- 
merous genera  of  placoids,  and  of  the  order  next  below  — 
ganoids.  Above  the  old  red  sandstone  comes  the  carbonifer- 
ous system:  here  fossil  footprints  of  a  large. reptilian  first 
appear.  Above  this,  comes  the  zechstein  or  magnesian  lime- 
stone formation,  charged  with  Pala30saurs,  thecodonts,  and  mo- 
nitors. But  while  reptiles  compose  the  class  of  vertebrata 
next  in  order  above  fishes,  the  fossil  bones  of  these  three  first- 
found  species  show  them  to  have  belonged  to  the  order  of 
lacertilians  —  the  third  from  the  top  of  Owen's  nine  orders  of 
fossil  reptiles.  Ascending  to  the  secondary  class  of  rocks,  we 
reach  first  the  new  red  sandstone  and  saliferous  marls.  Here 
the  gigantic  frog  or  toad-like  labyrinthodons  occur ;  and  here, 
for  the  first  time,  are  the  traces  of  birds.  Still,  as  far  as  their 
structure  can  be  ascertained,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
of  the  lowest  order.  Next  comes  the  oolitic  or  Jurassic  sys- 
tem;  and  here  occurs  the  didelphys  —  the  first  known  ex- 
ample of  mammalian  remains,  though  not  so  low  in  organic 
structure  as  some  living  mammals.  The  green  sand  and  cre- 
taceous systems  follow.  The  latter  exhibits  great  changes  of 
organic  types ;  for  while  some  of  the  preceding  families  have 
become  degenerate,  and  others  extinct,  new  families  are  called 
into  being ;  and  here  we  have  the  first  traces  of  animal  species 
still  living.  Leaving  the  cretaceous,  we  enter  the  tertiary  sys- 
tem ;  and  here  we  find  ourselves  in  a  comparatively  new  world 
of  organic  remains.  «  Among  the  millions  of  organic  forms, 
from  corals  up  to  mammals,  of  the  London  and  Paris  basins," 
we  find  hardly  one  species  belonging  to  the  secondary  rocks. 
Here,  in  the  first  subdivision  of  the  system  —  the  eocene  — 
we  find  numerous  extinct  species  of  vertebral  animals  —  fish- 
es, reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals;  but  the  first  and  the  last 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  197 

coexist.  And,  of  the  mammals,  the  carnivora  are  as  old  as 
the  pachyderms ;  nor  are  monkeys  wanting  even  in  this  open- 
ing page  of  the  new  chapter.  And,  then,  as  eocene  implies 
that  the  subdivision  exliibits  the  dawn  of  species  still  existing, 
the  miocene  subdivision  above  contains  more  of  the  species 
now  living,  though  extinct  species  still  predominate ;  while  in 
the  pliocene,  or  upper  division,  extinct  species  decline,  and 
species  now  living  predominate.! 

From  these  remarks,  it  will  be  seen  that  geology  affords  no 
ground  whatever  for  the  hypothesis  of  a  regular  succession  of 
creatures,  beginning  with  the  simplest  forms  in  the  older  strata, 
and  ascending  to  the  more  complicated  in  the  later  formations. 
The  earliest  forms  of  life  known  to  geology  are  not  of  the 
lowest  grade  of  organization ;  neither  are  the  earliest  forais  of 
any  of  the  classes  wl^h  appear  subsequently  the  simplest  of 
their  kind.  The  fanSul  hypothesis  which  derives  the  liigher 
animal  from  the  lower  —  and  of  which  we  shall  speak  here- 
after —  is  here  contradicted  at  every  step. 

Neither  have  we  any  reason  to  beUeve  that,  of  the  species 
found  in  the  older  fossiliferous  rocks,  the  individuals  belonging 
to  each  existed  m  smaller  mmihers  than  they  did  afterwards. 
Animal  forms,  too,  appear  there  in  as  full  development,  as  to 
size,  as  they  do  in  the  analogous  forms  of  existing  creatures. 

But  the  continuity  which  we  do  find  is  truly  remarkable. 
As  to  the  uninterrupted  maintenance  of  life ;  from  the  time  of 
its  first  creation,  there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  break 
in  the  vast  chain,  till  we  reach  the  existing  order  of  things : 
"  no  one  geological  period,  long  or  short,  no  one  series  of 
stratified  rocks,  is  everywhere  devoid  of  traces  of  life."^  As 
to  the  increase  of  species ;  "  although  the  older  fossiliferous 
strata  often  contain  vast  quantities  of  organic  remains,  the  num- 
ber of  species  is  much  smaller  than  in  more  recent  deposits."^ 
Chiefly,  as  to  tlie  succession  of  the  vertebral  classes ;  notwith- 
standing the  subordinate  exceptions  to  regular  progress  we 
have  noticed,  the  geological  order  in  which  we  find  them  is 
that  of  an  ascending  series  —  fishes,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mam- 
mals.    And,  as  to  the  gradual  conformity  of  the  successive  ani- 


^  See  Professor  Sedgwick's  Address  to  the  Geol.  Society,  p.  2 ;  and  an 
admirable  article  in  the  Edin.  Rev.,  July,  1 845. 

2  Note  by  Mr.  Phillips,  in  Professor  Powell's  Connection  of  Natural 
and  Divine  Truth,  p.  309. 

^  Sir  R.  1.  Murcluson's  Sihirian  System,  p.  583. 
17* 


198  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

7nal  creations  to  the  existing  types  ;  "  we  find  successive  stages 
marked  by  varjing  forms  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  and 
these  generally  differ  more  and  more  widely  from  existing 
species,  as  we  go  further  downwards  into  the  receptacles  of 
the  wreck  of  more  ancient  creations." ^ 

3.  The  animal  kingdom  exhibits  physiological  continuity. 
Here,  again,  we  employ  the  term  continuity,  only  in  a  general 
sense,  and  as  opposed  to  any  essential  departure  from  the  ori- 
ginal plans  of  animal  function  or  structure.  From  the  lowest 
radiate,  up  to  the  most  complicated  and  perfect  animal  struc- 
ture, endowed  with  digestive,  intestinal,  circulatory,  respira- 
tory, and  nervous  functions,  a  gradation  may  be  traced  of  an 
easy,  and,  in  some  parts,  almost  imperceptible  ascent.  The 
types  which  represent  the  great  divisions  of  the  animal  king- 
dom, exhibit  points  of  resemblance  ;  shying  that  they  are  all 
parts  of  one  general  plan.  In  the  progress  of  discovery,  species 
are  often  occurring  which  seem  to  fill  places  in  the  general 
classification  wlijch  were  previously  vacant.  Thus  the  nume- 
rous pachydermata  found  by  Cuvier  among  the  earliest  fossil 
mammalia,  enabled  him'  to  supply  many  intermediate  forms 
which  do  not  occur  in  the  species  of  that  order  now  living ; 
the  cetacea  seem  to  occupy  the  interval  between  fishes  and 
warm-blooded  quadrupeds ;  and  the  ornithorhynchus  between 
birds  and  mammalia. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  this  representation,  however, 
that  the  gradation  of  animal  being  is  absolutely  continuous 
and  complete.  Man,  probably,  will  never  succeed  in  recover- 
ing fossil  specimens  of  all  the  forms  of  past  creations.  ,  But 
even  if  he  did,  and  if  to  these  were  added  any  given  number 
of  new  species,  the  existing  plan  of  animal  life  would  find 
room  for  them  all.  They  would  form  a  continuation  of  the 
present  system ;  not  one  of  them  would  stand  isolated.  Thus 
interpreted,  we  have  no  objection  to  the  doctrine  of  "  the  unity 
of  organic  composition."  It  was  by  a  masterly  appHcation  of 
it,  in  this  sense,  that  Cuvier  was  able  to  supply  from  the  fossil 
genera  of  former  states  of  the  earth,  many  of  the  links  that 
appeared  to  be  wanting,  in  order  to  connect  the  past  and  pre- 
sent forms  of  animal  life  as  parts  of  one  great  system. 

4.  In  our  examination  of  nature,  then,  we  have  found,  not 
only  progression,  but  continuity  —  the  only  kind  of  continuity 
which  we  were  led  to  expect — that  which  discloses  the  Divine 

'  Dr.  Buckland's  B.  Trefvtise,  vol.  i.  p.  113. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  199 

maDifestation  in  the  order  of  power,  Avisdom,  and  goodness ; 
and  Ave  have  found  this  graduated  connection  existing,  not 
merely  between  the  several  stages  of  the  advancing  creation, 
but  also,  in  various  respects,  between  the  multiplied  parts  of 
each  stage  separately  considered. 

V. 

Activity.  —  Another  of  our  laws  is,  that  the  animal  structure 
and  functions  are  developed  hy  regidated  activity. 

1.  "All  parts  of  the  animal  body,"  says  Liebig,  "are  pro- 
duced from  the  fluid  circulating  in  its  organism.  A  destruc- 
tion of  the  animal  body  is  constantly  proceeding.  Every 
motion,  every  manifestation  of  force,  is  the  result  of  the  trans- 
formation of  the  structure  or  of  its  substance.  ...  At  every 
moment,  with  every  expiration,  parts  of  the  body  are  removed, 
and  are  emitted  into  the  atmosphere."  Every  part  of  the  frame 
of  a  vertebral  animal,  for  instance,  circulates  more  or  less 
rapidly.  Its  food  circulates  quickly  in  the  fluids,  more  slowly 
in  the  flesh,  more  slowly  still  in  the  bones ;  but  its  life  requires 
that  every  part  should  be  in  motion. 

2.  Besides  which,  as  animals  rise  in  the  scale  of  existence, 
the  systems  of  digestion,  circulation,  respiration,  and  sensation, 
bear  a  proportional  increase  ;  which  is  only  saying  that  organic 
activity  and  animal  perfection  correspond  with  each  other. 

3.  Again,  an  organ  being  given,  its  development  or  degree 
of  perfection  is  regarded  as  depending  on  the  extent  and 
number  of  the  uses  to  which  it  is  applied.  Thus  the  teeth,  the 
special  use  of  which  is  to  triturate  the  food,  to  which  alone  by 
some  classes  of  animals  they  are  applied ;  are  by  the  gramini- 
vorous class  applied  to  the  further  office  of  prehension  ;  and  in 
the  carnivorous  they  become,  in  addition,  organs  of  attack. 

4.  Hence  too,  all  those  defective  formations,  formerly  deemed 
mis-shapen  or  monstrous  productions,  or  lusus  naturce,  are  now 
found  to  be  occasioned,  as  in  abnormal  jDlants,  by  the  irregular 
development  —  the  activity  in  defect  or  excess  —  of  some 
parts  of  the  embryo,  while  the  natural  process  was  carried  on 
regularly  in  the  rest  of  the  system. 

5.  And,  in  harmony  wath  the  locomotive  power,  and  organi- 
zation of  the  animal,  the  external  world  is  adapted  to  call  forth 
its  activity.  The  senses,  and  the  objects  which  excite  them ; 
the  appetite,  and  the  food  which  gratifies  it ;  the  passions,  and 
the  means  of  appeasing  them,  mutually  operate  to  excite  the 


200  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

activity  of  the  animal.  And  on  the  constant  exercise  of  its 
functions,  in  conformity  with  their  nature,  its  well-beirig  and 
enjoyment  depend. 

6.  Every  stage  and  part  then  of  the  progressive  and  all-con- 
nected scheme  of  creation  is  found  to  manifest  all  that  it  is 
calculated  to  exhibit  of  the  Divine  nature,  by  developing  or 
working  out  its  own.  Every  being,  every  organ,  element,  and 
particle,  is  in  constant  activity.  Much  of  this  activity,  indeed, 
is  so  subtle  and  rapid,  as  to  defy  our  means  of  measurement 
and  calculation ;  yet  has  every  atom  an  appointed  place,  and 
obeys  a  definite  law.  And  much  of  this  activity  may  appear 
to  be  objectless  ;  yet  is  everything  acting  its  appropriate  part, 
and  answering  a  momentous  end ;  for,  here,  everything  is  ever 
tending  to  realize  the  great  end. 

VI. 

Development.  —  According  to  another  law,  the  same  proper- 
ties and  characteristics  which  existed  in  the  preceding  stage  are 
found  to  he,  not  only  brought  on  to  the  present,  hut  to  he  in  a  more 
advanced  condition ;  in  the  sense  of  heing  expressed  in  higher 
forms,  or  applied  to  higher  purposes. 

1.  We  saw  that,  while  the  plant,  in  obedience  'to  the  law  of 
gravity,  tends  downwards,  it  rises  upwards  too.  But  the  ani- 
mal is  able  to  resist  this  law  so  far  as  to  maintain  a  variety  of 
motions  and  attitudes  at  variance  with  its  tendency ;  or  even 
to  rise,  like  the  eagle,  many  thousand  feet  into  the  air,  in  oppo- 
sition to  its  own  natural  weight.  Many  plants  will  bear  a  very 
limited  variety  of  temperature ;  but  many  animals  preserve  an 
elevated  and  steady  temperature,  whether  exposed  to  severe 
cold  or  to  excessive  heat ;  some  will  even  bear  exposure  to 
the  intensest  cold  of  the  Polar  regions,  without  having  their 
own  temperature  reduced  even  by  a  single  degree.  The  plant 
receives  its  nourishment  by  a  slow  and  nearly  constant  supply, 
and  by  being  rooted  in  one  spot :  the  animal  is  furnished  with 
a  receptacle  into  which  it  can  receive  at  once  a  large  supply 
of  food ;  by  which  it  is  rendered  independent  of  local  situation  ; 
and  enjoys  the  privilege  of  moving  from  place  to  place,  and 
of  selecting  its  food.  The  animal  has  all  its  organs  of  nutrition 
within  itself;  for,  while  the  plant  absorbs  from  the  soil  without, 
it  is  not  until  the  food  is  deposited  in  the  stomach  of  the  ani- 
mal, that  the  lacteals,  or  absorbing  vessels,  answering  in  their 
office   to  the  roots  of  vegetables,   imbibe   nourishment.     The 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  201 

sexual  distinction  of  dioecious  plants  is,  at  most,  little  more  than 
an  obscure  intimation  of  the  same  distinction  developed  in  the 
animal  kingdom  ;  where  it  is  made  the,  basis  of  the  strongest 
sympathies,  relations,  and  affections.  The  parent  plant  is  con- 
structed to  provide  the  seed  with  that  nutriment  on  which, 
when  it  falls  to  the  earth,  it  may  live  dunng  its  germination, 
before  the  roots  have  sufficiently  enlarged  to  absorb  the  mois- 
ture from  the  surrounding  soil ;  but  from  the  moment  in  which 
it  is  shed,  its  separation  from  the  plant  is  complete.  While, 
in  the  animal  kingdom,  the  moment  of  birth  is,  in  the  case  of 
some  tribes,  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  parental  cares ; 
some  species  continuing  to  protect  their  young ;  others,  both 
male  and  female,  uniting  tc  protect  and  to  feed  them  ;  while  the 
mammal  protects  and  feeds  them  with  food  drawn  frmn  its  own 
life,  and  even  continues  to  associate  with  them  and  to  be  mu- 
tually dependent,  to  the  close  of  life. 

The  excitahility  of  the  plant  is,  as  we  have  seen,  succeed- 
ed in  the  animal  by  sensibility  and  contractility — that  passive 
and  that  active  element  of  animal  life  by  which  it  is  distin- 
guished, not  only  from  mechanieal,  chemical,  and  all  other 
merely  physical  forces,  but  even  from  organic  vital  powers. 
For,  in  addition  to  the  nerves  of  sensibility  for  conveying  sen- 
sations to  the  sensorium,  there  are  also  nerves  of  motion  for 
conveying  the  mandates  of  volition  to  the  muscles. 

2.  These  illustrations  may  remind  the  reader  of  the  follow- 
ing admired  passage  in  Coleridge's  "  Aids  to  Reflection : "  i 
"  Every  rank  of  creatures,  as  it  ascends  in  the  scale  of  creation, 
leaves  death  behind  it  or  under  it.  The  Metal  at  its  height 
of  being  seems  a  mute  prophecy  of  the  coming  vegetation,"  into 
a  mimic  semblance  of  which  it  crystallizes.  The  Blossom  and 
Flower,  the  acme  of  vegetable  life,  divides  into  correspondent 
organs  with  reciprocal  functions,  and  by  instinctive  motions 
and  approximations  seems  impatient  of  that  fixture  by  which 
it  is  diflerenced  in  kind  from  the  flower-shaped  Psyche,  that 
flutters  with  free  wing  above  it.  And  wonderfully  in  the  insect 
realm  doth  the  irritability,  the  proper  seat  of  instinct,  wliile  yet 
the  nascent  sensibility  is  subordinated  thereto  —  most  wonder- 
fully, I  say,  doth  the  muscular  life  in  the  insect,  and  the  mus- 
culo-arterial  in  the  bird,  imitate,  and  typically  rehearse  the 
adaptive  understanding,  yea,  and  the  moral  affections  and  char 
ities  of  man.     Let  us  carry  ourselves  back,  in  spirit,  to  the 

Pp.  Ill,  112.1st  ed. 


202  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

mysterious  week,  the  teeming  work-days  of  the  Creator :  as 
they  rose  in  vision  before  the  eye  of  the  inspired  historian  of 
*  the  generations  of  the  heaven  and  the  earth,  in  the  days  that 
the  Lord  God  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens.'  And  who 
that  hath  watched  their  ways  with  an  understanding  heart, 
could  contemplate  the  filial  and  loyal  bee ;  the  home-building, 
wedded,  and  divorceless  swallow  ;  and  above  all,  the  manifold- 
ly intelligent  i  ant  tribes,  with  their  commonwealths  and  con- 
federacies, their  warriors  and  miners,  the  husband-folk  that  fold 
in  their  tiny  flocks  on  the  honeyed  leaf,  and  the  virgin  sisters 
with  the  holy  instincts  of  maternal  love,  detached,  and  in  self- 
less purity,  and  not  say  to  himself.  Behold  the  shadow  of  ap- 
proaching humanity,  the  sun  rising  from  behind,  in  the  kindling 
morn  of  creation !  Thus  all  lower  natures  find  their  highest 
good  in  semblances  and  seekings  of  that  which  is  higher  and 
better."  This  is  the  poetic  but  guarded  language  of  a  mind 
which  more  than  "half  creates  that  which  it  sees."  No  one  could 
be  more  fully  aware  than  its  author  that,  in  thus  subjectiving  na- 
ture, and  allowing  his  active  but  trained  imagination  to  speak, 
he  was  only  illustrating  a  moral  truth ;  or  be  less  in  danger  of 
mistaking  rhetoric  for  science. 

The  gradation  of  a  plant  ijito  an  animal,  or  of  an  inferior 
animal  into  one  of  a  higher  class,  by  any  process  of  natural 
and  necessary  development,  is  a  hypothesis  requiring  far  other 
data.  In  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  shown  that  develop- 
ment, in  such  a  sense,  is  entirely  unknown  to  fossil  geology ; 
and  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  chapters  of  this  part  it  is 
made  apparent  that  the  Jiypothesis  is  at  variance  with  the  facts, 
both  of  geology  and  of  animal  physiology. 

3.  The  facts  which  we  have  adduced,  however,  are  sufficient 
to  illustrate  the  law  of  development  in  the  limited,  but  impor- 
tant sense  in  which  alone  we  hold  it  to  be  true.  We  have 
seen  that  pre-existing  laws  are  not  merely  brought  on  into 
each  succeeding  department  of  creation,  but  are  there  express- 
ed in  higher  forms,  or  promoted  to  higher  offices.  The  scheme 
of  the  Divine  Creator  advances  and  ascends.  His  last  and 
greatest  display  virtually  includes,  and  provisionally  completes, 
the  exhibition  of  all  that  had  preceded  it.  His  wisdom  is  the 
perfection  of  His  power ;  His  goodness,  the  provisional  com- 
plement of  both. 

'  See  Huber  on  Bees  and  on  Ants. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.         "  203 


VII. 


Relations. —  Every  part  is  mutually  and  medially  related,  to 
the  whole. 

1.  Numerous  and  complicated  relations  exist  between  the 
earth  and  every  animal  which  inhabits  it.  The  magnitude  of 
the  eartli  determines  the  strength  of  its  bones,  and  the  poAver 
of  its  muscles.  The  depth  of  the  atmosphere  determines  tlie 
condition  of  its  fluids,  and  the  resistance  of  its  blood-vessels. 
The  common  act  of  breathing,  the  transpiration  from  the  sur- 
face, must  bear  relation  to  the  weight,  moisture,  and  tempera- 
ture of  the  medium  which  surrounds  it.  The  external  form 
of  every  part  of  its  body,  and  every  organ  of  sense,  relates  to 
the  properties  of  the  objects  around  it.  AU  its  parts  are  created 
in  accordance  with  the  condition  of  the  globe,  and  are  system- 
atic portions  of  a  great  whole. 

2.  From  this  it  may  be  expected,  not  only  that  an  adapta- 
tion will  be  found  between  the  animal  and  the  particular  ele- 
ment of  air,  earth,  or  water,  which  it  inhabits,  but  between  it 
and  the  different  states  of  the  earth  at  different  geological  pe- 
riods. Accordingly,  the  fossil  remains  of  animals  inform  us,  not 
only  that  certain  races  of  aninaals,  now  extinct,  existed  at  cer- 
tain remote  periods ;  they  even  reveal  the  prevailing  condition 
of  the  earth  during  those  periods,  and  the  nature  of  the  changes 
which  it  successively  passed  through. 

3.  May  we  not  expect,  then,  if  the  relation  be  so  close,  that 
similar  adaptations  will  be  found  existing  .between  the  animal 
and  the  region  which  it  inhabits  ?  They  exist  in  abundance. 
It  is  this  fact  which  explains  to  us,  for  example,  the  periodical 
changes  in  the  plumage  of  birds,  and  the  furs  of  quadrupeds, 
the  migrations  of  animals,  and  the  theory  of  their  geographical 
distribution. 

4.  Nice  adjustments  are  observable  in  order  to  pi'eserve  the 
balance  between  the  different  races  of  animals  existing  at  any 
time  on  the  earth.  The  produce  of  so  minute  a  thing  as  a  fly, 
if  unchecked,  would  soon  darken  the  air  and  render  whole 
regions  desolate.  Had  there  been  an  error  as  to  the  grouping 
of  the  different  races  of  any  one  period,  there  might  have  been 
a  destruction  of  the  whole.  But,  so  nicely  have  aU  the  varie- 
ties been  balanced,  that  they*have  mutually  conduced  to  the 
existence  of  the  whole.  Even  the  conflicting  instincts  of  ani- 
mals —  as,  of  one  to  pursue  and  another  to  flee  —  are  related 
parts  of  this  whole. 


204  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

5.  A  single  living  animal  is  the  result  of  a  system  of  rela- 
tions. It  is  this  fact  which  enables  the  comparative  anatomi&t 
to  infer  from  a  single  fossil  bone,  the  division,  class,  order,  and 
even  species  and  habits  of  the  being  to  which  it  belonged.  Ex 
ungue  leonem.  To  say  that  there  is  a  perfect  relation  established 
between  the  "bones  and  the  muscles,  or  that  everything  remarka- 
ble in  the  outward  configuration  of  an  animal  is  always  attended 
with  some  corresponding  change  in  the  anatomy,  would  give 
but  an  imperfect  view  of  its  organic  relations.  "  With  each 
new  (animal)  instrument,  visible  externally,  there  are  a  thou- 
sand internal  relations  established  ;  the  introduction  of  a  new 
mechanical  contrivance  in  the  bones  or  joints,  infers  an  alter- 
ation in  every  part  of  the  skeleton  ;  a  corresponding  arrange- 
ment of  all  the  muscles  ;  that  the  nervous  filaments,  laid  in- 
termediate between  the  instrument  and  the  centre  of  life  and 
motion,  have  an  appropriate  texture  and  distribution ;  and, 
finally  ....  that  new  sources  of  activity  must  be  created,  in 
relation  to  the  new  organ,  otherwise  the  part  will  hang  a  use- 
less appendage."  ^  So  perfect  is  this  system  of  relations,  that 
whatever  part  or  function  of  the  animal  engages  our  attention, 
we  feel  inclined  to  conclude  tliat  the  whole  has  been  adjusted 
for  that  particular  point.  Though  a  thousand  j^arts  consent 
and  conform  to  every  single  act,  the  nervous  system,  besides 
being  the  medium  of  sympathy  among  the  organs,  secures  a 
consentaneousness  of  action  among  the  parts,  and  establishes 
instrumentally  a  unity  of  consciousness  in  the  individual  being. 

6.  But  more  remarkable  than  all,  perhaps,  and  the  type  of 
mysteries  beyond  itself,  is  that  sexual  relation,  by  which  one 
entire  being  becomes  the  complement  of  another,  and  sustains 
a  medial  relation  to  all  the  generations  of  the  same  kind,  from 
the  first  of  the  race  to  the  last  that  shall  exist. 

7.  Thus  we  have  seen  that  the  whole  universe,  organic  and 
inorganic,  presents  a  system  of  instrumental  relations.  The 
last  effect  of  any  particular  kind,  which  the  pre-adamite  crea- 
tion exhibited,  was  variously  connected  with  the  first  of  the 
entire  series.-  The  bare  coming  into  existence  of  that  first 
effect  proclaimed  a  Cause ;  and  the  bare  continuance  of  that 
effect,  for  a  single  moment,  proclaimed  a  distant  end ;  why  else 
did  it  continue  in  existence  even  for  that  moment?  Its  contin- 
uance not  only  foretold  an  end,  but  announced  that  by  means 
of  all  the  intermediate  effects  which  should  instrumentally  flow 


•  Sh  C.  Bell's  B.  Treatise,  p.  180. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  205 

from  it,  it  would  be  representatively  present  in  that  end,  how- 
ever distant  —  thus  connecting  the  origin  Vv^ith  the  end  of  all 
things. 

In  a  similar  manner,  each  of  the  several  kinds  of  effects  in 
nature  is  found  to  be  related  to  all  the  rest.  The  object  of  the 
Creator  is  ultimately  one ;  and  they  all  stand  in  the  relation 
of  means  to  that  one  end.  Vast  as  is  the  space  they  may  have 
occupied  from  the  beginning,  and  ever  widening  as  it  may  have 
been  through  each  successive  moment  since,  the  Divine  plan 
circumscribes  the  whole.  Nothing  wanders  at  large  and  un- 
related in  that  immeasurable  circumference.  And  nothing, 
once  related,  can  ever  break  away,  and  reach  a  point  beyond. 
Every  atom  is  bound  to  the  system  as  effectually  as  if  it  form- 
ed the  centre  of  the  whole.  And  the  last  and  most  finished 
specimen  of  sentient  life  that  has  come  from  the  Creating  hand, 
is  variously  related  to  that  apparently  insignificant  atom.  On 
no  one  point  can  we  lay  our  finger  and  positively  afhrm, "  Here 
ends  one  class  of  effects  and  begins  another : "  —  this  is  the 
province  of  the  Creator  alone.*  The  very  partitions  of  nature 
are  denoted  by  disjunctive  conjunctions.  Range  where  we 
will,  we  never  find  that  we  have  passed  into  another  sphere  — 
a  strange  department  of  creation.  There  is,  says  Paley,  "  a 
certain  character,  or  style,  (if  I  may  use  the  expression,)  in 
the  operations  of  Divine  Wisdom;  something  which  every- 
where announces,  amidst  an  infinite  variety  of  detail,  an  inim- 
itable unity  and  harmony  of  design."  How  obvious  the  infer- 
ence, then,  that  no  one  science  can  be  properly  arranged,  which 
does  not  provide  for  its  relation  to  every  other  science.  Phi- 
losophy, says  Adam  Smith,  is  the  science  of  the  connecting 
principles  of  nature. 

vni. 

Order. — We  may  expect  that  laws  will  come  into  operation 
on  every  subject  of  them,  according  to  their  order  i?i  the  system 
of  creatioji.  Were  our  knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  the 
subject  sufficiently  accurate  and  minute,  we  doubt  not  that  this 
principle  would  be  found  to  hold  good  in  every  respect  in  which 
it  could  be  legitimately  applied ;  whether  tested  from  the  first 
moment  of  embryonic  life  to  the  birth  of  the  animal,  or  from 
the  first  moment  of  independent  existence  at  birth  to  complete 
maturity.  At  present,  however,  physiologists  differ  respecting 
many  of  the  phenomena  concerned,  so  that  we  could  not  rely 
18 


206'  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

on  them  either  for  argument  or  illustration.  Thus,  the  view, 
that  animals  occupying  the  highest  place  in  the  scheme  of 
organization  present,  at  the  commencement  of  their  embryonic 
existence,  a  marked  resemblance  to  that  which  is  the  permanent 
condition  of  the  lowest  animals  of  the  same  division ;  and  that 
in  the  course  of  their  progress  to  their  own  mature  and  dis- 
tinctive form,  they  assume  in  succession  the  characters  of  each 
class  of  the  division  to  which  they  belong,  corresponding  to  their 
consecutive  order  in  the  ascending  scale,  would  seem  to  prom- 
ise a  strong  corroboration  of  our  principle.  Nor  would  the 
serviceableness  of  this  view  be  much  diminished,  even  if  ac- 
companied by  the  important  admission,  that  at  no  period  of 
embryonic  development  does  an  animal  of  a  higher  class  re- 
semble in  all  its  parts  an  animal  of  a  lower  class ;  for,  at  the 
same  moment  that  one  of  its  organs  resembles  the  correspond- 
ing organ  in  a  lower  animal,  another  will  be  found  to  resem- 
ble a  corresponding  organ  in  a  much  higher  animal.  But  we 
cannot  accept  a  view  which  rests,  as  we  shall  presently  show 
this  does,  on  very  insufficient  and  doubtful  data. 

It  is  sufficient  to  find,  however,  that,  generally,  and  as  far 
as  physiologists  are  agreed,  our  principle  proves  to  be  in  har- 
mony with  fact.  Does  it  imply,  for  example,  that  the  devel- 
opment of  the  organic  life  would  precede  that  of  the  animal 
life  ?  The  pulsations  of  the  heart,  the  centre  of  the  organic 
life,  give  the  first  indications  of  vitality  in  the  embryo,  while 
the  sensorial  functions  are  the  last  which  attain  perfection. 
Would  it  lead  us  to  expect  that  the  nutritive  organs  would  be 
found  to  precede  the  reproductive?  "  The  apparatus  first  per- 
fected is  that  which  is  immediately  necessary  for  the  exercise 
of  the  vital  functions,  and  which  is  therefore  required  for  the 
completion  of  all  the  other  structures."^  Even  the  prior  ap- 
pearance of  the  spinal  cord,^  is  no  impeachment  of  our  princi- 
ple ;  for  as  it  presents  itself  before  the  embryo  has  any  life,  or 
organs  of  life  of  its  own,  it  can  only  be  regarded  as  an  extension 
of  the  parental  life  ;3  and  to  that  life  our  principle  does  apply. 

'  Roget's  B.  Treatise,  vol.  ii.  p.  540. 

2  According  to  Miiller,  the  first  trace  of  the  nervous  system  is  not 
merely  that  of  the  spinal  cord  or  of  the  ganglionic  string,  but  is  the 
.potential  whole  of  that  system,  of  the  brain  and  all  its  appendages. — 
Fhysiology^  vol.  i.  p.  20. 

^  Up  to  this  point,  the  embryo  cannot  be  spoken  of  as  a  separate  ex- 
istence. Even  those  organs  which  ultimately  become  single  are  said  to 
be  formed  in  halves  ;  or  to  present,  at  first,  a  double  appearance.    They 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  207 

And  would  it  further  lead  us  to  expect  that  the  nutritive 
process  would  correspond  with  the  order  of  the  same  process 
in  plants  ?  From  the  mechanical  operations  to  which  the  food 
is,  in  the  first  place,  subjected,  and  the  chemical  changes  which 
it  next  undergoes  in  the  stomach,  through  all  the  intermediate 
stages,  to  that  of  absorption,  the  order  of  the  process  is  the 
same  in  each  economy. 

IX. 

Influence.  —  It  may  be  expected  that  everything  will  hing 
in  it,  and  with  it,  in  its  own  capability  of  subserving  the  end,  a 
,reason  why  all  other  things  shoidd  be  influe^iced  by  it ;  and  for 
'the  degree  in  which  it,  in  its  turn,  should  be  influenced  by  every- 
thing else. 

l..In  our  preceding  illustration  of  this  law,  we  saw  the 
living  plant  decomposing  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere, 
appropriating  the  carbon  to  the  formation  of  its  own  juices, 
and  returning  the  disengaged  oxygen  into  the  atmosphere; 
itself,  meanwhile,  influenced  by  the  amount  of  the  element 
present  ^nd  subject  to  decomposition.  We  have  now  to  re- 
mark that  by  this  very  process,  the  plant  was  not  only  render- 
ing the  atmospheric  air  more  fitted  than  it  was  before  for  the 
support  of  animal  Ufe,  and  thus  preparing  for  the  support  of  a 
higher  order  of  life  wliile  absorbing  its  own  means  of  nourish- 
ment, but  that  it  was  preparing  to  become  the  food  of  that 
superior  order  of  life. 

2.  Looking  up  the  scale  of  creation,  the  highest  order  of 
being  at  any  time  existing  is  to '  be  regarded  as  the  relative 
end  of  all  the  orders  below  it.i  This  is  its  prerogative  by 
right  of  its  comparative  importance,  or  of  that  greater  power 
which  it  possesses  of  answering  the  great  end  of  creation.  But 
as  all  inferior  beings  possess  a  measure  of  the  same  power, 
and  therefore,  of  the  same  right,  their  subordination  to  the 
higher  is  never  absolute.     It  is  regulated  by  the  degree  in 


are  individual ;  they  do  not  yet  form  an  individual.  It  is  not  until  the 
halves  approach,  infold,  and  unite,  that  an  intimation  is  given  of  a  dis- 
tinct system.  At  first,  too,  the  formation  is  said  to  proceed  from  without 
inwards,  showing  the  external  dependence  of  the  process ;  it  is  not  until 
the  order  is  reversed  that  an  intimation  is  given  of  the  approaching  self- 
dependence  of  the  animal. 

'  Liebig  shows  the  closeness  of  the  connection  between  vegetable  and 
animal  life,  from  the  fact  that  "  the  first  substance  capable  of  affording 
nutriment  to  animals  is  the  last  product  of  the  creative  energy  of  vegeta- 
bles." 


208  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

which  thej  can  conduce  to  the  well-being  of  that  higher  order 
of  existence.  This  is  at  once  the  extent  and  the  hmit  of  their 
subordination.  Hence,  one  of  the  nobler  species  no  sooner 
dies,  than  he  loses  his  status  in  creation.  The  lowest  forms 
of  animal  life  become  his  superiors,  and  prey  on  him.  And 
even  the  physical  laws  regaui  their  ascendency  over  him.  So 
that  in  this  sense,  "  a  Kving  dog  is  better  than  a  dead  Hon." 

3.  The  law  now  under  consideration  is  recognised  in  all  our 
natural  classifications  of  objects.  For  it  provides  not  only  for 
the  calculation  of  all  the  points  of  resemblance,  for  the  subor- 
dination of  characters,  and  for  the  arrangement  of  animals  in 
natural  groups,  but  also  for  the  arrangement  of  these  groups 
in  an  ascending  series  according  to  the  degree  of  value  or 
intensity  m  the  leading  phenomena  of  the  animal  economy. 
Indeed,  the  principle  is  recognised  in  that  system  of  Provi- 
dence which,  while  it  «  feeds  the  young  Hons,"  notes  "  the  fall- 
en sparrow,"  and  "  taketh  care  for  oxen,"  is  represented  as 
apportioning  its  regard  according  as  its  objects  are  of  lesser  or 
of  "  greater  value ;"  according,  that  is,  to  the  measure  of  the 
capacity  which  an  object  has  to  receive  and  exhibit  the  proofs 
of  the  Divine  care,  and  so  to  answer  the  end  of  creation. 

X. 

Subordination.  —  Every  law  subordinate  in  ranh,  though  it 
may  have  been  prior  in  its  origin,  may  be  expected  to  be  subject 
to  each  higher  law  of  the  manifestation. 

1.  Accordingly,  we  here  find  the  productions  of  Wisdom 
subordinate  to  the  exercise  of  goodness ;  the  vegetable  sustain- 
ing the  animal  creation. 

2.  But  this  subordination  is  continuous  ;  extending  into  the 
animal  kingdom  itself.  Each  class  of  animated  being  is,  gen- 
erally speaking,  food  for  those  immediately  above  it  in  the 
scale  of  existence. 

3.  The  same  principle  of  subordination  obtains  among  ani- 
mals of  the  same  species.  For  instance,  if,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  the  perpetuation  of  the  species  be  a  later  and  a  higher 
law  than  the  preservation  and  enjoyment  of  the  individual,  we 
may  anticipate  that  the  earlier  but  inferior  law  will  submit  to 
it.  Accordingly,  niunerous  tribes,  especially  of  insects,  ap- 
pear to  live  only  to  propagate  their  kind.  And,  among  the 
mammalia,  the  parental  instincts,  while  they  last,  subordinate 
every  other.  The  "  bear  bereaved  of  her  whelps"  is  reckless 
of  her  own  life. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  209 

4.  Nor  is  the  law  of  subordination  less  traceable  in  the 
organization  and  functions  of  the  individual  animal.  Indeed, 
here  it  asserts  itself  in  a  new  and  remarkable  manner.  For, 
as  we  have  seen,  while  the  primary  object  of  vegetable  germs 
appears  to  be  the  preparation  of  the  functions  of  nutrition,  the 
primitive  trace  of  the  animal  structure  in  its  embryonic  state, 
is  that  of  a  part  to  which  all  the  functions  of  vitahty  are  to 
be  placed  in  subordination ;  namely,  the  rudiments  of  the  cen- 
tral organ  of  nervous  power.  The  same  early  intimation  of 
the  ultimate  supremacy  of  the  organ  of  sight  is  given  by  tlie 
appearance  of  a  rudimental  eye,  before  any  of  the  other  or- 
gans of  sense.  —  I  say,  the  supremacy  of  the  eye ;  for,  if  tlie 
value  of  the  senses  is  to  be  estimated  according  to  the  degree 
in  which  they  enlarge  the  circle  of  our  objective  perceptions, 
the  order  in  which  they  would  rank  would,  probably,  be  this 
—  touch,  taste,  smell,  hearing,  sight. 

5.  But  though  intimation  is  thus  early  given  of  the  nervous 
system,  and  of  the  higher  senses,  the  order  in  which  they 
come  into  active  use  is  in  strict  accordance  with  our  preceding 
law.  For,  the  parts  fii'st  perfected  are  those  which  are  imme- 
diately necessary  for  the  exercise  of  the  vital  functions.  The 
heart,  the  punctum  saliens  of  organic  hfe,  begins  its  pulsations 
while  yet  it  resembles  a  mere  tube ;  the  sensorial  system  is 
perfected  last.  And,  to  the  last  and  highest  power  of  the 
animal  —  the  power  of  volition  —  all  the  earlier  functions  of 
vitality  are  placed  in  subordination.  To  this,  its  organs  of 
locomotion  are  subservient.  And,  when  they  are  wearied,  for 
this  it  reposes  and  sleeps,  while  the  heart  keeps  vigil,  and  all 
the  organic  system  continues  at  work ;  that,  when  it  awakes,  it 
may  be  able  again  to  obey  its  volitions,  gratify  its  desires,  and 
resume  its  enjoyments. 

XI. 

Uniformity.  —  This  stage  of  creation  is  found  to  be  pervad- 
ed by  the  operation,  and  impressed  with  the  regularity,  of 
general  laws.  All  these  are  doubtless  contained  in  the  Divine 
mind ;  for  they  are  only  the  rules  of  that  agency  by  which  all 
animated  nature  is  sustained  in  activity. 

1.  The  uniformity  of  such  activity,  or  the  presence  of  such 

laws,  is  implied  in  most  of  the  views  already  advanced.     How 

else,  for  example,  could  we  speak  of  the  animal  scheme  ?    What 

would  prevent  one  class  of  beings  from  assuming  the  form  of 

18* 


210  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

another,  till  the  animal  kingdom  presented  a  scene  of  inex- 
plicable confusion,  if  each  of  them  were  not  kept  within  the 
limits-  assigned  to  it  ?  Especially  is  this  reign  of  law  discern- 
ible in  the  arrangements  of  animal  sensation.  The  function 
of  each  nerve  of  sense  is  determinate,  and  can  be  performed 
by  no  other  part  of  the  system.  The  optic  nerve  alone  can 
give  rise  to  the  sensation  of  light ;  "  no  part  of  the  nervous 
system  but  the  auditory  nerve  can  convey  that  of  sound  ;  and 
so  of  the  rest."  While  it  is  evident  that  the  relations  subsisting 
between  the  nervous  system  and  the  external  agents  capable 
of  affecting  it,  must  be  maintained  by  laws  equally  determinate. 
2.  Fossil  geology  shows  that  such  relations  have  existed 
from  the  first  appearance  of  animal  life  to  the  present  day  ; 
binding  the  whole  together  as  the  successive  parts  of  one  great 
system.  Paley  has  well  remarked,  respecting  the  variations 
observable  in  living  species  of  plants  and  animals,  in  different 
regions  and  under,  various  climates,  that  "  we  never  get  amongst 
such  original  or  totally  different  modes  of  existence,  as  to 
indicate  that  we  are  come  into  the  province  of  a  different 
Creator,  or  under  the  direction  of  a  different  Will.''^  The 
philosophy  of  Dugald  Stewart  carries  him  a  step  further,  when 
he  acutely  remarks,  that  the  uniformity  of  animal  instinct 
"  presupposes  a.  corresponding  regularity  in  the  physical  laws 
of  the  universe,  insomuch  that,  if  the  established  order  of  the 
material  world  were  to  be  essentially  disturbed,  (the  instincts 
of  the  brutes  remaining  the  same,)  all  their  various  tribes 
would  inevitably  perish."^  Geology  ■  immeasurably  enlarges 
the  range  of  this  truth.  "  Any  naturalist,"  sagaciously  ob- 
serves Mr.  Lyell,  "will  be  convinced,  on  slight  reflection,  of 
the  justice  of  this  remark.  He  will  also  admit  that  the  same 
species  have  always  retained  the  same  instincts,  and  therefore 
that  all  the  strata  wherein  any  of  their  remains  occur,  must 
have  been  formed  when  the  phenomena  of  inanimate  matter 
were  the  same  as  they  are  in  the  actual  condition  of  the  earth. 
The  same  conclusion  must  also  be  extended  to  the  extinct 
animals  with  which  the  remains  of  these  living  species  are 
associated ;  and  by  these  means  we  are  enabled  to  establish 
the  permanence  of  the  existing  physical  laws  throughout  the 
whole  period  when  the  tertiary  deposits  were  formed.^ 

^  Nat.  Theol,  p.  450.     Chap,  on  the  Unity  of  the  Deity. 
^  Phil,  of  the  Human  Mind,  vol.  ii,  p.  230. 
^  Geology,  p.  IGl.     1st  Ed. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  211 

3.  But  while  the  uniformity  contended  for  is  essential,  in 
order  even  that  any  reasoning  respecting  the  past  may  be  pos- 
sible, it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  same  source  which 
supplies  the  means  of  proving  it,  furnishes  also  abundant  evi- 
dence of  its  interruption.  Because  no  other  physical  laws 
than  those  which  are  now  known  to  us  have  ever  existed,  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  these  have,  in  no  sense,  known  inter- 
ruption. Every  destructive  earthquake,  though  itself  the  re- 
sult of  general  laws,  is,  in  so  far  as  it  is  destructive,  a  breach 
of  that  stability  of  nature  for  which  the  animal  is  made,  and 
shows  that  such  uniformity  is  not  inviolable.  While  the  suc- 
cessive appearance  ©f  races  of  animals,  entirely  unknown  to 
pre-existing  nature,  shows  that  it  is  an  uniformity  as  compati- 
ble with  the  addition  of  new  creations  as  with  the  destruction 
of  old  ones. 

xn. 

Obligation.  —  Animal  hfe  exists  under  an  obligation  to  pro- 
mote the  end  of  creation,  commensurate  with  its  means  and  rela- 
tions. Here,  again,  obligation  can  be  affirmed  of  the  animal 
kingdom  only  in  the  same  figurative  sense  in  which  all  the 
kingdoms  of  nature  are  said  to  be  governed  by  laws.  The 
mind  of  the  Lawgiver  is  the  only  conceivable  seat  of  these 
laws ;  for  they  only  and  simply  express  His  modes  of  opera- 
tion. If,  moreover,  these  created  existences  have  been  origi- 
nated for  a  purpose,  the  mind  of  the  Creator  is  the  only  con- 
ceivable seat  of  that  purpose ;  for  animal  natures  are  only,  at 
most,  instinctive  and  impulsive.  The  mere  proximate  ends, 
indeed,  for  which  they  blindly  live  —  their  own  conservation 
and  the  propagation  of  their  kind  —  may  be  regarded  by  the 
imagination  as  a  foreshadowing  of  a  being  capable  of  conscious- 
ly aiming  at  a  higher  end.  But  of  such  an  end  the  animal 
itself  knows  nothing.  AVhatever  obligation  may  exist,  there- 
fore, to  employ  the  means  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  th(; 
end,  and  to  create  and  sustain  the  animal  kingdom  as  a  part 
of  those  means,  can  be  binding  only  on  Him  with  whom  the 
purpose  of  their  creation  has  originated. 

The  idea  of  this  law  is  thus  recognised  and  poetically  ex- 
pressed by  Hooker :  "  The  world's  first  creation,  and  the  pres- 
ervation since  of  things  created,  what  is  it  but  only  so  -far  forth 
a  manifestation  by  execution,  what  the  eternal  law  of  God  is 
concerning  things  natural  ?     And  as  it  cometh  to  pass  in  a 


212  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

kingdom  rightly  ordered,  after  a  law  is  once  published,  it  pres- 
ently takes  effect  far  and  wide,  all  states  framing  themselves 
thereunto ;  even  so  let  us  think  it  fareth  in  the  natural  course 
of  the  world:  since  the  time  that  God  did  first  jDroclaim  the 
edicts  of  His  law  upon  it,  heaven  and  earth  have  hearkened 
unto  His  voice,  and  their  labor  hath  been  to  do  His  will.  He 
'  made  a  law  for  the  rain.'  (Job  xxvii.  26.)  He  gave  His  'de- 
cree unto  the  sea  that  the  waters  should  not  pass  his  conmiand- 
ment.'  (Jer.  v.  22.)  Now,  if  Nature  should  intermit  her  course, 
and  leave  altogether,  though  it  were  but  for  a  while,  the  ob- 
servation of  her  own  laws  ;  if  those  principal  and"  mother-ele- 
ments of  the  world  whereof  all  things  in  this  lower  world  are 
made,  should  lose  the  qualities  which  now  they  have ;  if  the 
frame  of  that  heavenly  arch  erected  over  our  heads  should 
loosen  and  dissolve  itself;  if  celestial  spheres  should  forget 
their  wonted  motions,  and  by  irregular  volubility  turn  them- 
selves any  way  as  it  might  happen  ;  if  the  prince  of  the  lights 
of  heaven,  which  now,  as  a  giant,  doth  run  his  unwearied 
course,  should  as  it  were,  through  a 'languishing  faintness,  be- 
gin to  stand  and  to  rest  himself;  if  the  moon  should  wander 
from  her  beaten  way,  the  times  and  seasons  of  the  year  blend 
themselves  by  disordered  and  confused  mixture,  the  winds 
breathe  out  their  last  gasp,  the  clouds  yield  no  rain,  the  earth 
be  defeated  of  heavenly  influence,  the  fruits  of  the  earth  pine 
away  as  children  at  the  withered  breasts  of  their  mother,  no 
longer  able  to  yield  them  relief;  —  what  would  become  of  man 
himself?  whom  these  things  now  do  all  serve  ?  See  we  not 
plainly  that  obedience  of  creatures  unto  the  law  of  nature  is 
the  stay  of  the  whole  world  ! "  i 

xni. 

Well-being.  —  Li  accordance  with  another  of  our  principles 
—  tliat  everything  loill  be  entitled  to  cm  amount  of  good,  or  enjoy 
a  degree  of  well-being  proportionate  to  the  discharge  of  its  obli- 
gations, or  to  the  measure  of  its  conformity  to  the  laws  of  its 
being  ;  we  find  that  the  well-being  of  the  animal  depends  on 
its  conformity  to  the  laws  of  its  own  constitution. 

1.  The  laws  of  its  own  being,  physical,  organic,  and  mental, 
are  in  conformity  with  each  other,  and  with  the  laws  of  the 
external  world ;  and,  provided  nothing  occurs  to  disturb  that 

*  Works  of  Hooker,  by  Keble,  vol.  i.  p.  257, 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  213 

harmony,  its  well-being  is  secure.  If  the  germ  form  whicli  it 
springs  be  perfect,  and  if  its  embryonic  development  be  unim- 
peded, it  will  come  into  existence  as  a  complete  organization, 
sound  in  its  whole  constitution ;  but,  if  either  of  these  condi- 
tions be  wanting,  it  will  be  feeble  and  sickly,  or  else  a  mal- 
formation. If,  from  the  first  moment  of  its  separate  existence, 
it  is  supplied  properly,  as  to  quantity  and  quality,  with  food, 
air,  light,  and  every  physical  element  requisite  for  its  support, 
the  result  will  be  a  healthy  development  of  its  organs^  and 
powers,  a  pleasing  consciousness  of  existence,  and  an  aptitude 
for  the  performance  of  its  natural  functions ;  but  the  result  of 
non-compliance  with  these  conditions,  will  be  a  stunted  growth, 
imperfection,  or  an  early  death.  If  it  duly  exercises  its  or- 
gans according  to  the  laws  of  its  constitution,  enjoyment  will 
be  experienced  in  the  very  act  of  exercise,  and  appropriate 
gratifications  be  acquired ;  but  the  absence  of  such  activity 
will  result  in  the  sluggishness  and  consequent  derangement  of 
the  functions,  together  with  the  want  of  the  appropriate  grati- 
fications, and  with  a  sense  of  uneasiness  or  of  positive  pain. 
"  The  whole  life  of  animals,"  says  Liebig,  "  consists  of  a  con- 
flict between  chemical  forces  and  the  vital  powers.  In  the 
normal  state  of  the  body  of  an  adult,  both  stand  in  equilibrium. 
Every  mechanical  or  chemical  agency  which  disturbs  the  res- 
toration of  this  equilibrium  is  a  cause  of  disease.  Disease  oc- 
curs when  the  resistance  offered  by  the  vital  force  is  weaker 
than  the  acting  cause  of  disturbance.  Death  is  that  condition 
in  which  chemical  or  mechanical  powers  gain  the  ascendency, 
and  all  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  vital  force  ceases." 

2.  But  this  animal  well-being  does  not  depend,  in  a  mere 
general  and  indefinite  manner,  on  conformity  with  the  laws  of 
its  constitution,  but  is  exactly  regulated  in  its  kind  and  degree 
by  the  nature  and  relative  importance  of  the  laws  obeyed. 
Some  laws  were  intended  to.  be  subservient  to  others.  If  they 
are  so  subordinated,  they  both  yield  their  own  peculiar  kind 
and  degree  of  pleasure,  and  instrumentally  enable  the  higher 
laws  to  minister  their  superior  enjoyment.  If  the  law  of  ap- 
petite be  limited  to  its  appropriate  gratification,  the  pleasure 
of  eating  is  enjoyed  ;  and,  besides  this,  the  animal  is  prepared 
for  all  the  higher  pleasures  arising  from  muscular  activity  and 
the  exercise  of  the  senses.  But  if  they  are  not  so  subordinat- 
ed, though  the  higher  enjoyment  is  lost,  they  do  not,  therefore, 
necessarily  and  at  once,  cease  to  be  productive  of  their  own 
peculiar  kind  of  pleasure.     By  feeding  inordinately,  the  ani- 


214  THE   PRE-ADAinTE    EARTH. 

mal  may  render  itself  incapable  of  higher  gratifications,  of 
even  avoiding  the  attacks  to  Avhich  it  is  exposed ;  and  may 
thus  hasten  the  end  of  its  life,  and  therefore,  of  this  solitary 
pleasure  of  eating;  still,  while  its  appetite  continues,  it  con- 
tinues to  enjoy  the  animal  gratification  which  arises  from 
eating. 

3.  Here,  again,  we  are  reminded  of  the  ideal  perfection  to 
which  we  have  referred  in  the  corresponding  sections  of  the 
preceding  parts.  The  chances,  so  to  speak,  that  no  two  ani- 
mals of  the  same  species  have  ever  stood  in  precisely  the  same 
relations  to  the  standard  of  absolute  animal  perfection,  are  here 
multiplied  by  all  the  additional  laws,  and  all  their  possible 
combinations,  which  characterise  the  animal  as  compared  with 
the  vegetable  economy.  For  the  same  reason,  the  chances  are 
equally  increased  that  no  one  animal  has  ever  reached  that 
standard.  In  the  case  of  even  that  one  which  may  have  most 
nearly  approached  it,  if  certain  incidents  had  been  added  to  the 
myriads  which  had  actually  combined  in  its  liistory,  it  would 
have  approached  still  nearer  to  perfection.  Its  resemblance 
to  the  ideal  standard  is  in  exact  proportion  to  its  conformity  to 
the  laws  of  its  being. 

4.  And  thus  we  have  found  that  everything  in  the  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  world  has  an  end  of  its  own ;  and  that  all  such 
proximate  ends  are  so  placed  in  a  line  with  the  ultimate  end, 
that  everything  answers  it  most  effectually,  by  aiming  at  its 
own  immediate  end.  The  haj^piness  of  the  creature  and  the 
glory  of  the  Creator  are  thus  seen  to  harmonize  and  become 
one. 

XIV. 

Analogy.  —  The  relation  of  every  part  of  the  animal  kingdom 
to  every  other  part,  as  well  as  to  all  that  had  been  created  pre- 
viously, suggests  another  of  our  laws,  that  the  whole  is  in  anal- 
ogy., or  is  arranged  on  a  plan. 

1.  Accordingly,  it  is  folmd  that,  notwithstanding  the  almost 
interminable  variety  of  animal  forms  with  which  the  earth,  the 
air,  and  the  waters,  teem,  the  whole  are  reducible  to  a  very 
small  number  of  types,  or  principal  schemes  of  organization. 
Cuvier,  as  we  have  seen,  limited  these  models  to  four  —  the 
radiata,  the  mollusca,  the  articulata,  and  the  vertebrata.  Take 
any  of  these  divisions  —  say  the  vertebral  —  and  it  would  al- 
most seem  as  if,  in  its  construction,  a  definite  type  or  standard 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  215 

had  been  kept  in  view ;  and  to  -wliicli,  amidst  endless  modifi- 
cations, all  the  species  had  been  conformed.  For,  in  many 
instances,  where  the  greatest  diversity  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, this  original  type  is  departed  from  only  jnst  so  much 
as  is  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  adapting  it  to  the  destiny  of 
the  particular  species ;  while,  in  other  instances,  where  the 
greatest  dissimilarity  of  size,  and  form,  and  habit,  exists,  the 
closest  analogy  to  the  type  is  still  traceable.  Thus,  the  longest 
necked  mammalian  at  present  known,  and  the  shortest  necked, 
have  the  same  number  of  bones  in  the  neck  —  the  giraffe  the 
same  as  the  hog  or  the  mole.  And  the  bones  which  we  recog- 
nise in  the  paddle  of  the  turtle,  are,  by  slight  changes  and  gra- 
dations, adjusted  so  as  to  form  the  fin  of  the  whale,  the  wing 
of  the  l)ird,  and  the  paw,  the  foot,  and  the  hoof  of  the  land 
mammifers. 

2.  Instances  of  particular  change  are  always  accompanied 
by  the  corresponding  readjustment  of  the  entire  structure.  No 
limb,  organ,  or  structure,  is  isolated.  Every  part  conforms  to 
every  other  part.  "  We  are  inclined  to  say,  whatever  part  oc- 
cupies our  attention  for  the  time,  that  to  this  particular  object 
the  system  has  been  framed."  Hence  it.is  that  the  physiolo- 
gist acquainted  with  comparative  anatomy  can  infer  from  the 
fossil  fragments  of  a  skeleton  —  a  mutilated  bone  —  the  entire 
structure  and  the  habits  of  tlie  animal  to  which  it  belonged.i 
And  were  all  the  bones  of  any  geological  period  to  be  laid  at 
his  feet,  he  would  be  able  to  build  up  all  their  frames,  "  bone 
coming  to  his  bone ;"  to  reduce  each  species  to  its  class,  and 
each  individual  to  its  place,  as  harmonious  parts  of  an  all-re- 
lated system. 

3.  This  unity  of  design  is  further  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
the  same  parts  which  are  fully  developed  in  some  classes,  exist 
in  others  only  in  what  is  termed  "a  rudimental"  state.  Thus, 
a  row  of  small  teeth  are  said  to  exist  in  the  lower  jaw  of  the 
young  of  the  whale,  before  its  birth  ;  but,  as  they  do  not  rise 
above  the  gums,  they  are  useless  for  mastication,  and  gradual- 
ly disappear.  "Rudimental"  organs  of  this  kind  may  have 
special  applications,  of  which  we  know  nothing.  In  the  in- 
stance named,  for  example,  both  the  coming  and  going  of  the 
teeth  may  minister  to  the  pleasure  of  the  unborn  animal ;  in 
which  case,  there  would  be  the  same  reason  for  the  process,  as 
we  are  accustomed  to  assign  for  the  existence  of  the  animal  at 

*  Cuvier's  Discourse,  prefixed  to  his  Ossemens  Fossiles,  p.  47. 


216  THE    PRE-ADASnTE    EARTH. 

all.  Our  knowledge  must  not  be  made  to  limit  the  creative 
designs.  But  even  if  such  rudimental  parts  answer  no  other 
end,  they  indicate  the  relation  of  the  species ;  they  point  to  a 
type,  and  are  suggestive  of  the  general  plan.  And  as  man 
could  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  Divine  Wisdom,  apart  from 
the  classification  of  created  objects,  here  are  some  of  the  innu- 
merable helps  to  the  necessary  arrangement. 

4.  This  comprehensive  plan  of  animal  life,  viewed  co-exist- 
ently,  is  still  further  illustrated  by  the  recovery  of  the  fossil 
remains  of  animals  which  have  existed  in  successive  states  of 
the  globe.  They  fill  up  the  apparent  blanks  in  the  plan.  Novel 
as  many  of  these  ancient  forms  are,  they  are  never  at  variance 
with  the  order  of  the  general  system.  Not  one  of  them  stands 
apart  in  isolation.  The  scheme  is  all-including ;  so  that  the 
strangest  organization  belongs  to  it,  and  finds  an  appropriate 
place  in  it. 

5.  Now  it  was  only  to  have  been  expected  that  such  indica- 
tions of  a  great  plan  of  animal  existence  would  give  rise  to  a 
number  of  hypotheses  respecting  both  the  mode  of  its  produc- 
tion, and  the  principle  of  the  classification  of  its  members.  Ac- 
cordingly, by  dint  of*  overlooking  some  phenomena,  of  seeing 
others  which  existed  only  in  the  imagination,  of  occasionally 
exalting  particular  instances  into  general  principles,  and  of 
torturing  doubtful  circumstances  till  they  seemed  to  utter  the 
language  desired,  various  theories  have  been  formed,  and  have 
flourished  in  succession ;  each  being  considered,  for  the  time, 
a  most  remarkable  discovery  of  science. 

6.  As  to  the  mode  of  production,  Lamarck  took  occasion, 
from  the  obvious  traces  of  a  scheme  of  animal  life,  to  advocate, 
in  his  Philosophie  Zool(Tgique,  the  extravagant  hypothesis  of  the 
transmutation  of  species  ;  according  to  which,  there  was  no  dis- 
tinction of  species  originally ;  but  each  class  has  in  the  course 
of  ages  been  derived  from  some  other  and  different  class,  less 
perfect  than  itself,  by  a  spontaneous  effort  at  improvement. 
Now  the  only  reply  which  is  really  due  to  this  fancy,  falsely 
called  philosophy,  is  the  origination  of  some  counter  fancy, 
equally  baseless,  but  equally  aspiring  to  the  honors  of  philoso- 
phy. •  If,  however,  the  reply  must  needs  partake  of  a  grave 
character,  it  is  obvious  to  remark,  first,  that  while  fossil  geology 
exhibits  abundant  remains  of  distinct  species,  it  presents  no 
remains  of  any  species  in  a  state  of  transition  into  other  species. 
Striking  as  the  resemblance  may  be  between  any  two  species, 
still,  what  niore  can  be  said  than  that  the  difference  is  specific  ? 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  217 

Short  as  the  step  may  appear  to  be  from  the  one  to  the  other, 
it  is  an  impassable  chasm.  And  hence  the  same  species  is 
found,  in  many  instances,  to  retain  its  essential  characteristics 
through  a  long  succession  of  strata,  while,  in  some  one  of  these 
very  strata,  new  species  come  into  view,  not  by  a  gradual 
change,  but  suddenly  and  completely ;  leaving  it  to  be  infer- 
red that  all  other  species  have  had  the  same  independent  ori- 
gin. 

On  this  subject,  let  us  listen  to  the  weighty  testimony  of 
Agassiz  in  his  Report  on  the  Fossil  Fishes  of  the  Devonian 
System,  or  Old  Red  Sandstone.  "  One  of  the  first  observations 
to  be  made  on  the  ichthyological  fauna  of  the  old  red  sandstone 
is,  that  it  is  wholly  peculiar  to  this  formation ;  its  numerous 
species  differ  alike  from  those  of  the  Silurian  system,  and  from 
those  of  the  carboniferous  strata ;  the  greater  portion  of  the 
genera,  even  of  the  Devonian  system,  are  restricted  to  the  dura- 
tion of  this  geological  system.  ...  It  is  a  truth  which  I  con- 
sider now  as  proved,  that  the  '  ensemUe '  of  organized  beings 
was  renewed  not  only  in  the  interval  of  each  of  the  great  geo- 
logical divisions  which  we  have  agreed  to  term  formations ; 
but  also  at  the  time  of  the  deposition  of  each  particular  member 
of  all  the  formations.  For  example,  I  think  I  can  prove  that 
in  the  oolitic  formation,  at  least,  within  the  limits  of  the  Swiss 
Jura  ;  the  organic  contents  of  the  lias,  those  of  the  oolitic  group 
properly  so  called,  those  of  the  Oxfordian  group,  and  those  of 
the  Portlandian  group,  as  they  occur  in  Switzerland,  are  as  dif- 
ferent from  each  other  as  the  fossils  of  the  lias  from  those  of 
the  Keuper,  or  those  of  the  Portlandian  beds  from  those  of  the 
Neocomian  formation.  I  also  beheve  very  little  in  the  genetic 
descent  of  living  species,  from  those  of  the  various  tertiary  lay- 
ers which  have  been  regarded  as  identical,  but  which,  in  my 
opinion,  are  specifically  distinct.  I  cannot  admit  the  idea  of 
the  transformation  of  species  from  one  formation  to  another. 
In  advancing  these  general  notions,  I  do  not  wish  to  offer  them 
as  inductions  drawn  from  the  study  of  any  particular  class  of 
animals,  (of  fishes  for  instance,)  and  applied  to  other  classes ; 
but  as  the  results  of  direct  observation  of  very  considerable 
collections  of  fossils  of  different  formations,  and  belonging  to 
different  classes  of  animals,  in  the  investigation  of  which  I 
have  been  specially  engaged  for  many  years,  in  order  to  assure 
myself  whether  the  conclusions  which  I  had  drawn  from  the 
tribe  of  fishes  were  applicable  to  this  class  only,  or  T^heth^ 
19 


218  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

the  same  relation  existed  in  the  other  remains  of  the  animal 
kingdom."! 

7.  The  advocate  for  the  progressive  transmutation  of  a 
species  may  be  fairly  pressed  with  the  inquiry,  why  the  essen- 
tial parts  which  characterize  every  individual  member  of  that 
species,  have  not  exhibited  any  corresponding  development. 
The  eye  of  the  extinct  Trilobite,  for  instance,  one  of  the  most 
ancient  forms  of  animal  hfe,  but  which  has  not  been  found  in 
any  strata  more  recent  than  the  carboniferous  series,  exhibits 
an  optical  instrument  as  perfect  as  that  of  any  crustacean  now 
existing.  Now  surely  if  the  condition  of  any  crustaceous  ani- 
mal of  the  present  day  is  the  result  of  a  long  series  of  imj^rov- 
ing  transmutations  from  an  inferior  condition  of  preceding 
crustaceans,  we  may  analogically  look  for  a  corresponding  im- 
provement in  all  its  parts  ;  and,  of  all  its  parts,  especially  in  its 
characteristic  parts ;  and,  of  these,  especially  in  so  complex  an 
organization  as  the  eye.  But  the  eye  of  the  earliest  crustacean 
is  found  to  be  as  perfect  as  the  eye  of  the  last  hving  Serolis 
that  was  caught ;  leaving  us  to  infer  that  the  eye  of  this  class 
has  not  depended  for  its  structure  on  any  preceding  and  pro- 
gressive improvements,  but  that  "  it  was  created  at  the  very 
first,  in  the  fulness  of  perfect  adaptation  to  the  uses  "2  for  wliich 
it  was  designed ;  and,  further,  that  if  such  changes  had  not 
been  necessary  in  order  to  account  for  the  condition  of  the 
crustacean  eye,  neither  have  they  been  necessary  to  the  present 
condition  of  that  animal  as  a  whole,  nor  productive  of  that  con- 
dition. 

8.  The  observations  of  mankind  for  thousands  of  years,  have 
furnished  no  instance  of  a  transmutation  of  species.^  Exploded 
statements  to  the  contrary  are  sometimes  revived,  and  vague 
phenomena  are,  for  a  time,  confidently  reported.  But  on  in- 
vestigation it  will  be  found,  that  all  the  imaginary  instances  of 
such  changes  may  rank  under  one  or  other  of  the  following 
heads,  —  supposed  spontaneous  generation,  which  is  a  thing 
distinct  from  the  translation  of  species,  and  which  will  be  pres- 
ently noticed ;  or  else  a  variation  of  the  individual  plant  or 
animal,  owing,  not  to  a  natural  cause,  but  to  artificial  treatment 
to  that  effect ;  or  else,  that  large  class  of  instances  which 
belong  to  an  imagination  more  active  than  trustworthy,  and 
not  unwilhng  to  be  beguiled.    But  not  one  example  of  a.trans- 

*  Twelfth  Report  of  the  Brit.  Assoc,  p.  85. 

2  Dr.  Buckland's  B.  Treatise,  p.  403.  •'  See  Note  F. 


EXISTENCE.  219 


mutation  of  species,  we  repeat,  has  ever  been  witnessed  or  prov- 
ed. Now  if  it  be  said  that  this  is  a  question  of  time,  and  that 
the  evidence  wanting  to-day  may  come  into  existence  a  thou- 
!-and  ages  hence,  we  have  only  to  reply,  that  if  we  are  to  wait 
ibr  the  phenomena,  we  had  rather  wait  also  for  the  hypothesis 
which  proposes  to  explain  them.  Meantime,  we  may  record 
our  wonder,  that  parties  who,  on  other  subjects,  refuse  to  be- 
lieve anything  in  the  absence  of  facts,  evidence,  induction, 
s-hould  here  so  readily  dispense  with  them  all  as  superfluities. 

9.  The  hypothesis  proceeds  on  the  assumption  that  the  pro- 
pensities of  the  animal  have  determined  its  organization  ;  that 
the  structural  peculiarities  of  a  species  have  resulted  from  its 
prolonged  efforts  at  something  for  which  it  was  not  originally 
adapted.  Now,  allowing  this,  it  only  remains  for  the  theorist 
to  explain  what  it  is  that  determined  the  propensities  of  any 
given  species.  If,  according  to  him,  the  organization,  so  far 
either  from  being  one  with  the  propensity,  or  from  giving  di- 
rection to  it,  has  had  actually  to  be  conformed  to  it,  whence 
then  this  pre-supposed,  organizing,  creative  propensity  ? 

10.  In  direct  opposition  to  the  transmutation  of  species,  all 
the  great  changes  of  animal  conformation  which  come  under 
our  notice  are  prospective ;  taking  place,  not  in  consequence 
of  a  new  condition,  but  in  preparation  for  it.  '  Thus,  the  larva 
of  the  winged  insect  can  only  walk ;  but,  if  we  take  it  and  dis- 
sect it,  just  before  its  metamorphosis  is  completed,  we  find  an 
apparatus  in  progress  for  flight  through  the  air.  The  embry- 
onic animal  has  a  life  adapted  to  its  condition ;  but  this  life  is 
subordinate  to  the  formation  of  organs  for  a  life  after  birth ; 
and  for  which,  during  the  whole  period  of  gestation,  it  is  un- 
consciously preparing. 

11.  Distinct  from  the  preceding,  in  particulars,  but  aiming 
at  the  same  end,  is  the  emhryotic  hypothesis  according  to  which 
it  is  affirmed  that  the  organic  germs  of  all  animals  are  iden- 
tical, and  that  the  higher  animals,  while  in  the  womb,  pass 
through  all  the  successive  conditions  which,  in  the  lower  grades 
of  animals,  are  permanent ;  that  the  quadruped,  for  example, 
is  successively  a  fish,  a  reptile,  and  a  bird,  before  it  attains  its 
permanent  organic  form.  And  the  assumption  which  professes 
to  account  for  these  mutations  is  that  of  "  an  advance  under 
i'avor  of  peculiar  conditions,"^  by  which,  at  some  time,  a  fish 
produced  a  reptile  ;  a  reptile,  a  bird ;  and  a  bird,  a  beast. 

'  Vcstifres  of  Creation. 


220  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

12.  Now  here  again,  we  might  remark,  that  as  no  such  an 
advance  has  ever  come  under  human  observation,  we  might 
surely  wait  for  the  hypothesis,  until  the  phenomena  which  it 
undertakes  to  explain  are  forthcoming.  But  as  presumptive 
evidence  of  such  an  "  advance "  is  supposed  to  exist  in  the 
embryotic  changes  referred  to,  we  must  not  omit  to  glance  at 
the  nature  of  these  changes.  And  the  first  remark  proper  to 
the  subject  seems  to  be  this ;  the  strong  antecedent  probability 
there  existed,  that  marked  resemblances  would  be  observable 
between  the  yet  undeveloped  embryos  of  diflerent  classes  of 
animals.  Resemblance  to  some  extent  was  inevitable,  for  they 
are  all  to  exist  in  the  same  world ;  and  the  points  of  analogy 
would  be  multiplied  in  proportion  to  the  analogous  modes  of 
their  existence  after  birth.  But  prior  to  their  birth,  and  while 
yet  their  ultimate  differences  were  only  in  process  of  forma- 
tion, their  apparent  resemblances  would  be  the  greater,  the 
farther  back  we  can  carry  our  observations  —  resemblances 
implying  chiefly  the  imperfection  of  our  tests. 

13.  It  is  obvious  to  remark  also  the  strong  likeliliood  there 
was,  on  subjective  grounds,  that  embryotic  resemblances  would 
be  overrated,  and  that  mere  likeness  would  be  mistaken  for 
identity.  The  tendency  of  the  mind  to  generalize  and  conclude 
on  insufficient  data,  admits  of  abundant  illustration.  It  was 
only  necessary  for  Marsigli  to  affirm  certain  spontaneous  move- 
ments in  the  round  apertures  on  the  surface  of  sponges,  and 
Ellis  persuaded  himself  that  he  saw  the  same  and  something 
more ;  and  Pallas  reported,  Avithout  examination,  the  assertion 
of  Ellis ;  and,  for  more  than  half  a  century,  it  was  received  as 
an  established  fact  in  natural  history.  And  in  a  similar  man- 
ner, it  was  only  necessary  for  certain  physiologists  to  point  out 
fissures  improperly  calle'd  bronchial,  in  the  foetus  of  the  mam- 
mal, and  two  or  three  other  suggestive  phenomena ;  and  forth- 
with others  imagined  that  they  saw  the  gills  of  the  fish,  the 
heart  of  the  reptile,  and  the  brain  of  a  number  of  animals  in 
succession,  in  the  same  foetal  form;  and  others  too  readily 
gave  currency  to  such  reports  as  unquestionable  facts.  Now 
it  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  throw  suspicion  on  the  whole  hy- 
pothesis when  it  is  known,  that  these  resemblances  only  relate 
to  some  one  organ  or  part  of  the  foetus  at  a  time  ;  that  the 
likeness  is  seen  only  by  dint  of  refusing  to  see  the  difference ; 
and  that  the  difference  to  be  kept  out  of  sight  relates  sometimes 
to  the  foetus,  and  sometimes  to  the  object  with  which  it  is  com- 
pared, —  thus,  the  primitive  streak  of  the  embryo  resembles 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  221 

tlie  zoophyte  in  wliich  nutrition  is  performed  by  imbibition, 
but  no  notice  must  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  this  rudimentary 
streak  extends  into  a  membrane  which  becomes  the  vascuhir 
area ;  it  resembles  a  worm,  inasmuch  as  it  is  cyUndrical  and 
has  no  limbs  for  motion,  but  no  notice  must  be  taken  of  the 
fact,  that  the  worm  has  rings  and  contractile  bands,  for  its  mo- 
tions, while  the  embryo  has  neither;'  audits  brain  maybe 
thought  to  resemble  the  brain  of  different  orders  of  animals, 
provided  only  that  a  sufficient  variety  be  summoned  for  the 
comparison,  and  that  from  these  a  selection  be  made  at  a  "cer- 
tain point "  of  foetal  development ;  taking  care  that  such  point 
be  any  stage  of  the  development  at  which  the  resemblance 
may  be  thought  to  be  most  striking.  "  With  what  shadow  of 
reason,"  asks  Dr.  Clark,  in  his  Memoir  on  Foetal  Develop- 
ment, 2  "  can  any  school  of  anatomists  pretend  to  say,  that  one 
order  of  animals  can  pass  into  another  order,  in  the  way  of 
ordinary  generation,  seeing  that  the  indispensable  respiratory 
foetal  organs  are  so  different  in  each?  The  fallacy  which 
allows  for  a  moment  such  an  absurdity  to  pass,  is  this  —  that, 
to  serve  their  purpose,  they  describe  their  foetus  by  its  centiial 
portions  only,  and  not  by  its  whole  mass,  including  its  organic 
appendages,  which  are  essential  to  its  continued  life,  and  its 
matured  structure. 

14.  It  is  to  be  remarked  further,  that  many  of  those  physiol- 
ogists who  have  looked  not  unfavorably  on  these  progressive 
foetal  resemblances,  have  yet  qualified  their  statements  with 
such  remarks  as  to  make  them  perfectly  useless  to  the  advo- 
cate of  the  transmutation  of  species  by  ordinary  generation. 
Thus  Fletcher,  in  his  Rudiments  of  Physiology,  after  speak- 
ing of  it  as  "  a  fact  of  the  highest  interest  and  moment "  that 
the  brain  of  every  class  of  animals  appears  to  pass,  during  its 
development,  in  succession,  through  the  types  of  all  those  be- 
low it,  adds,  "  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  all  this  is  only 
an  approximation  to  the  truth ;  since  neither  is  the  brain  of 
all  osseous  fishes,  of  all  turtles,  of  all  birds,  nor  of  all  the  spe- 
cies of  any  one  of  the  above  order  of  mammals,  by  any  means 
precisely  the  same,  nor  does  the  brain  of  the  human  foetus  at 
any  time  precisely  resemble,  perhaps,  that  of  any  individual 

'  See  Dr.  W.  Clark's  Keport  on  Animal  Physiology  in  the  Fourth  Re- 
port of  the  Brit.  Association,  p.  114. 

^  Read  before  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  (1845).     See  also 
the  second  volume  of  the  Poissons  Fossilcs  of  Agassiz. 
19* 


222  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

whatever  among  the  lower  animals."  Even  if  the  resemblance 
had  been  substantiated,  it  would  not  have  proved  the  truth  of 
the  hypothesis  in  question ;  but  here  the  inaccuracy  of  the  re- 
semblance itself  is  confessed. 

15.  Beyond  this,  the  serial  character  of  the  supposed  devel- 
opment fails  in  the  most  essential  parts.  The  first  set  of  ger- 
minal membranes  laid  down  are  those  of  the  organs  proper  to 
animal  life,  the  nervous  system  and  organs  of  motion ;  but,  ac- 
cording to  the  hypothesis,  they  ought  to  be  some  vegetable 
resemblances.  The  first  indication  of  the  embryo  is,  as  we 
have  said,  the  primitive  trace,  the  rudiment  of  a  back  bone, 
and  of  a  continuous  spinal  cord  ;  whereas,  according  to  the 
hypothesis,  it  should  have  been  something  assimilatinoj  the 
embryo  to  the  avertebral  classes  ;  but  these  three  entire  classes 
—  radiata,  mollusca,  and  articulata  —  are  passed  over  without 
any  corresponding  foetal  type.  As  to  the  organs  of  respira- 
tion ;  at  the  very  time  when  the  loAver  vertebrates  are  quitting 
the  ovum,  and  "  when  frogs  and  fishes  are  beginning  to  breathe 
by  bronchial  tufts  and  gills,  other  amphibia  and  birds  are  breath- 
ing by  allantoid,  and  never  for  an  instant  breathe  by  gills  ;  hot- 
blooded  quadrupeds  are  breathing  by  allantoid  and  placenta 
jointly ;  while  man  is  breathing  by  placenta  alone."  As  to 
the  heart  of  the  foetus  of  a  mammal,  "  it  does  not  23ass  through 
the  form  which  is  permanent  in  the  amphibia,  but  it  does 
pass  through  a  form  not  found  permanent  in  any  known  crea- 
ture. This  grand  correction  of  an  old  mistake  we  owe  to  the 
concurrent  labors  of  Valentine,  Rathke,  and  Bischoff^  who 
stand  in  the  first  rank  of  discoverers  ;  and  no  good  anatomist 
has  pretended  to  contradict  them.  The  hearts  of  birds  and 
mammals  do  not,  therefore,  pass  through  forms  which  are  per- 
manent in  fishes  and  reptiles."  The  development  of  the  brain 
also  is  marked  by  corresponding  differences ;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  individuality  in  respect  to  sex.i  Indeed,  it  is  only 
during  the  first  beginnings  of  life,  and  while  the  organic  struc- 
ture is  yet  in  its  primary  elements,  that  we  are  liable  to  be  de- 
ceived by  resemblances.  But  who  would  infer  that  because 
the  far-distant  mountain  looked  uniformly  green,  therefore  only 
one  kind  of  vegetable  clothed  it?  And  yet  this  would  be  only 
parallel  to  the  inference  that  because  there  is  a  time  when, 
owing  to  our  imperfect  means  of  discrimination,  the  liver  and 
the  lung  are  indistinguishable,  therefore  they  are  identical.    As 

*  Dp.  Clark's  Memoir  on  Fa^tul  Development. 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  223 

soon  as  ever  organs  begin  to  be  distinguishable,  the  distinc- 
tions are  found  to  be  specific.  And,  as  far  as  we  know  any- 
thing on  the  subject,  these  specific  diff^erences  are  constant  and 
immutable. 

In  the  attempt,  then,  to  advocate  the  transmutation  of  spe- 
cies by  generation,  we  have  phenomena  adduced,  the  existence 
of  which  physiologists  disprove ;  as  the  basis  of  a  hypothesis 
whose  object  is  to  explain  other  phenomena  which,  it  is  admit- 
ted, no  one  ever  saw. 

16.  But,  as  if  the  foregoing  hypotheses  were  not  sufficiently 
indefensible  already,  each  of  them  has  to  presuppose  another 
hypothesis,  in  order  to  account  for  the  existence  of  the  first 
species,  the  hypothesis  of  spontaneous  generation  or  produc- 
tion. By  which  it  is  meant,  according  to  Buffbn  and  others, 
that  plants  and  animalcules  make  their  appearance  under  cir- 
cumstances where  no  germs  could  have  existed,  and  that  they 
are  originated  by  a  power  inherent  in  certain  material  parti- 
cles.! 

17.  When  it  is  remembered,  however,  that  most  of  the  in- 
stances which  were  formerly  relied  on  in  proof  of  the  hypo- 
thesis, can  now  be  explained  on  ordinary  principles,  the  natural 
inference  is  that  an  increase  of  knowledge  will  enable  us  to 
explain  the  residuary  phenomena  on  the  same  principles.  As 
to  tenacity  of  life,  it  is  known  of  some  vegetable  seeds  that 
they  will  germinate  after  they  have  been  kept  for  many  cen- 
turies, and  that  such  minute  organisms  as  flour-eels,  and  wheel- 
animalcules  may  not  only  be  reduced  to  perfect  dryness,  so 
that  all  the  functions  of  life  shall  be  suspended  for  years,  yet 
without  the  destruction  of  the  vital  principle,  but  that  in  "  de- 
spite of  drying  in  vacuo,  along  with  chloride  of  calcium  and 
sulphuric  acid,  for  twenty-eight  days,  subjected  to  a  heat  of 
248°  F.,  some  of  them  have  been  observed  to  recover."  And 
as  to  the  subtle  manner  in  which  germs  thus  tenacious  of  life 
obtain  access  to  the  interior  of  living  bodies,  the  probability  is 
that  they  can  enter  wherever  air  can  penetrate.  The  fact 
that  minute  infusory  animalcules  can  be  raised  with  the  watery 
vapor,  and  floated  for  a  season  in  the  atmosphere,  deserves,  as 
Humboldt  remarks  in  his  Cosmos,  to  be  well  considered  in 
connection  with  this  subject ;  especially,  since  "  Ehrenberg  has 
discovered  in  the  kind  of  dust-rain  frequently  encountered  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  at  a  distance 

^  Se   Note  G. 


224  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

of  380  sea  miles  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  the  remains  of  18 
species  of  siliceous-shelled  polygastric  animalcules."  And  if 
entozoa  —  creatures  living  in  the  interior  parts  of  other  ani- 
mals —  have  been  found  in  embryos  and  in  the  eggs  of  birds ; 
so  also,  says  Tiedmann,  have  pins  and  small  pieces  of  flint. 

18.  Is  it  not  enough  to  cast  suspicion  on  the  hypothesis, 
that  when  experimental  efforts  to  procure  spontaneous  produc- 
tion have  resulted  in  the  appearance  of  anything,  it  should 
have  been  a  full-grown  forest  of  confervee,  or  an  adult  infuso- 
ria? These  are  certainly  suggestive  of  pre-existing  germs, 
and  seem  to  presuppose  them.  But  instead  of  the  production 
of  the  more  simple  seed  and  ^^^^  we  have  the  complicated 
and  developed  individual  itself.  And  that  which  further  as- 
sures us  that  the  individual  animalcule  has,  in  such  instances, 
been  derived  from  another  mdividual  of  the  same  species  as 
itself,  is  that  its  body  has  been  found  to  be  full  of  eggs. 

19.  Indeed,  the  revelations  of  the  microscope  were  hardly 
more  fatal  to  the  Brahminical  doctrine,  that  animal  life  should 
never  be  destroyed  for  food,  than  they  were,  in  skilful  hands, 
to  the  hypothesis  of  equivocal  generation.  As  no  stomach 
had  been  previously  rendered  visible  in  the  smallest  species 
of  Infusoria,  such  as  monads,  Lamarck  and  others  hastily  re- 
garded them  as  consisting  of  a  mere  homogeneous  substance, 
having  neither  mouth  nor  digestive  cavity,  and  as  nourished 
simply  by  means  of  absorption  through  the  external  surface 
of  the  body.  And  here,  it  was  conjectured,  we  saw  an  illus- 
tration of  the  natural  development  of  a  particle  to  a  mammal, 
at  that  23oint  of  the  process  where  the  organism  stands  between 
the  vegetable  and  animal  worlds.  But  Ehrenberg,  by  sup- 
plying these  microscopic  species  with  organic  coloring  matter 
as  nutriment,  has  demonstrated  that  their  bodies  are  highly 
organized,  "  provided  in  all  cases  with  at  least  a  mouth  and 
digestive  system."  Accordingly  his  arrangement  of  Infusoria 
is  "  based  on  the  structure  of  the  digestive  system,  which  gives 
rise  to  the  two  natural  classes  of  Polygastrica  and  liotatoriar'^ 
Besides  a  digestive  apparatus,  Ehrenberg  has  discovered  in 
them  a  generative,  and  often  a  muscular  system.  Both  in 
structure  and  in  functions,  therefore,  they  are  placed  compara- 
tively on  a  level  with  the  larger  animals.  The  blank  which 
they  were  supposed  to  fill  in  the  process  of  transmutation  is 
left  vacant.     The  only  legitimate  conclusion  is,  that  the  small- 

'  Jenyns's  Rcpoi't  on  Zoology,  British  Association,  1834,  p.  244. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  225 

est  of  them  is  derived  from  an  antecedent  cause,  as  natural 
and  uniform  as  that  of  any  other  class  of  animated  being. 

20.  And  this  conclusion  harmonises  with  the  evidence  of 
geology.  Had  spontaneous  production,  and  the  transmutation 
of  species,  been  among  the  processes  of  nature,  we  might  have 
expected  to  meet  with  abundant  indications  in  the  bosom  of 
the  earth.i  The  subterranean  fossil  museum  might  have  been 
expected  to  be  crowded  with  monstrous  malformations.  The 
fact  is,  however,  that  amidst  all  the  vast  accumulations  of  ani- 
mal remains,  not  a  single  abnormal  specimen  has  yet  been 
found.  Every  organic  part  is  finished ;  every  animal  com- 
jilete,  —  the  first  of  his  race  as  complete  as  its  offspring  of  the 
present  day ;  every  species  articulating  with  every  other  spe- 
cies, and  falling  into  the  place  appointed  for  it  in  a  perfect 
all-comprehending  plan.  Accordingly,  the  verdict  returned 
by  all  the  enlightened  geologists  of  the  day  —  some  of  them 
by  no  means  unduly  biassed  in  favor  of  the  view,  is  "  that 
species  have  a  real  existence,  and  that  each  was  endowed  at 
the  time  of  its  creation  with  the  attributes  and  organs  by  which 
it  is  now  distinguished."^     The  following,  therefore,  are  to  be 

^  "  There  are  some,"  says  Cixvier,  in  his  Disconrs  Prcliminaire  to  the 
Ossemens  Fossilcs,  "  qui  pensent  qii'avec  des  siedes  et  des  habitudes 
toutes  les  especes  pourraient  se  changer  les  unes  dans  les  autres,  ou  re- 
sulter  d'une  seule  d'entre  elles."  But  he  naturally  inquires,  "■  Pourquoi 
les  entrailles  de  la  terre  n'ont-elles  point  conserve  les  monumens  d'une 
gencalogie  si  curieuse  ?" 

^  Such  is  the  conclusion  at  which  Mr.  Lyell  arrives,  after  occui^ying 
the  ITrst  four  chapters  of  the  second  volume  of  his  Principles  of  Geology, 
in  a  masterly  examination  of  the  arguments  which  have  been  advanced 
in  favor  of  transmutation.  See  also  De  la  Beche's  Geological  Pesearch- 
es,  p.  239.  In  the  same  view,  Coneybeare  ani]  Buckland,  Philips  and 
Sedgwick,  concur ;  and  to  these  might  be  added  the  names  of  a  number 
of  eminent  physiologists.  Les  especes  perdues  ne  sont  pas  des  varie'te's  des 
esptces  vivantes,  is  Cuvier's  first  proposition.  "  Does  the  hypothesis  of 
the  transmutation  of  species  afford  any  explanation  of  these  surprising 
phenomena?"  asks  Professor  Owen,  referi'ing  to  the  facts  resulting  from 
his  anatomical  examination  of  fossil  animals  :  "  Do  the  speculations  of 
Maillet,  Lamarck,  and  Geoffroy  derive  any  support  from  this  department 
of  Palfeontology  ?"  and  he  shows  that  comparative  anatomy  returns  a 
decided  negative.  Whil6  Agassiz,  at  the  end  of  his  great  work,  Poissons 
Fossilcs,  after  rejecting  the  scheme  of  natural  development,  affirms,  "  It 
is  necessary  that  we  recur  to  a  cause  more  exalted,  and  recognise  influ- 
ences more  powerful,  exercising  over  all  nature  an  action  more  direct,  if' 
we  would  not  move  eternally  in  a  vicious  circle.  For  myself,  I  have  the 
conviction  that  species  have  been  created  successively  at  distinct  intervals, 
and  that  the  changes  which  they  have  undergone  during  a  geological 
epoch  are  very  secondary,  relating  only  to  their  fecundity,  and  to  mi^^ra- 
tious  dependent  on  epochal  influences." 


226  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

regarded  as  among  the  first  principles  of  physiology ;  that 
even  those  species  which  most  nearly  resemble  each  other, 
exhibit  characteristic  dilFerences ;  and  that  these  characteristic 
diiferences  are  constant.  So  that  however  short  the  interval 
between  any  two  steps  in  an  animal  series  may  appear  to  be, 
it  is  still  in  reality  an  abrupt  transition. 

21.  Classification. — We  have  remarked  also  that  the 
indications  which  are  traceable  that  animal  life  is  formed  ac- 
cording to  a  plan,  were  likely  to  give  rise  to  a  number  of 
hypotheses  respecting  the  principle  of  the  classification  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Accordingly,  some  have  fancied  that  if  all 
the  species  could  be  collected  and  arranged,  they  would  be 
found  to  form  a  cone  or  pyramid.  .  Oken,  and  a  German  school 
of  zoologists,  contend  that  the  animal  kingdom  is  analogous  to 
the  anatomy  of  man — each  class  S23ecially  representing  a  divi- 
sion of  the  human  organs,  such  as  the  articulate  representing 
the  viscera,  and  the  vertebrata  the  motive  organs.  Kaup,  and 
another  school,  extend  the  fancy  to  the  representation  of  the 
"  five  senses."  Mac  Leay  propounded  the  theory,  which  Swain- 
son  and  others  have  subsequently  endeavored  to  develop,  that 
all  natural  groups,  of  whatever _  denomination,  form  circles ; 
and  that  each  of  these  circular  groups  is  resolvable  into,  exact- 
ly five  others. 

22.  Now  the  error  which  appeared  in  the  transmutation 
hypothesis,  is  here  repeated  in  another  form.  There,  because 
there  is  evidence  that  relations  of  animal  resemblance  univer- 
sally exist,  the  method  by  which  such  resemblance  is  pro- 
duced is  unphilosophically  inferred  without  evidence.  Here, 
because  such  relations  render  the  animal  kingdom  susceptible 
of  some  arrangement,  it  is  inferred  that  the  arrangement  must 
be  one  of  determinate  numbers,  or  of  geometrical  forms.  Such 
a  hypothesis,  however,  has  no  warrant  either  in  reason  or  in 
observation.  It  assumes  a  regularity,  if  not  even  an  actual 
organization,  in  that  which  is  only  a  mere  abstraction,  the  sys- 
tern  of  nature.  It  loses  sight  of  the  natural  irregularities  of 
the  inorganic  world  in  all  geological  periods ;  for  unless  the 
strata  of  the  earth  had  been  formed  as  regularly  as  the  con- 
centric coatings  of  an  onion,  the  relations  of  their  organized 
inhabitants  could  hardly  be  expected  to  be  such  as  to  presup- 
pose the  square  compartments  of  a  museum.  Indeed,  as  long 
as  organic  nature  is  influenced  by  inorganic,  certain  gaps  in 
the  former  cannot  fail  to  exist.  To  suppose  the  contrary  would 
be  to  infer  that  in  many  cases  whole  tribes  of  animals  have 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  227 

been  made,  not  with  a  view  "  to  perform  certain  fimctions  in 
the  external  world,  but  merely  in  order  to  complete  the  circu- 
larity of  a  group,  to  fill  a  gap  in  a  numerical  arrangement,  or 
to  represent  (in  other  words,  imitate)  some  other  group  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  system."^  But  the  Divine  Creator  has 
higher  ends  in  view ;  nor  can  his  mode  of  operation  be  thus 
prescribed,  nor  its  results  be  predicted. 

23.  The  true  system  of  classification  in  the  animal  kingdom, 
as  in  the  preceding  kingdoms,  may  be  supposed  to  be  that 
which  determines  the  afiinities  of  animals  according  to  the  or- 
der and  to  the  relative  value  of  their  distinctive  characters. 
Thus,  regarding  the  earliest  as  the  lowest  in  value,  we  ascend 
to  the  organs  of  nutrition,  each  organ  rising  in  value  as  the 
order  advances ;  then  to  the  organs  of  reproduction  in  succes- 
sion, as  of  still  greater  value :  and  then  to  those  of  sensation 
and  volition  as  of  the  highest  value,  including,  of  course,  the 
development  of  the  instinctive  affections.  So  that  the  rela- 
tionship is  to  be  regarded  as  nearest,  when  the  resemblance 
lies  between  those  characteristics  which  are  of  the  highest 
value. 

24.  According  to  this  method,  1.  the  classification  presup- 
poses, ii4  order  to  be  perfect,  a  knowledge  of  all  the  physiolo- 
gical properties  of  animals;  of  the  order  in  which  the  me- 
chanical, chemical,  and  symmetrical  laws  come  into  operation 
in  their  constitution ;  and  the  order  in  which  the  nutritive  and 
reproductive  organs  are  developed.  2.  The  classification  is 
made  from  a  calculation  of  all  the  points  of  resemblance ;  none 
being  arbitrarily  rejected  as  unimportant.  3.  It  requires  that 
each  group  shall  be  formed  of  such  individuals  only  as  resem- 
ble each  other  more  than  they  resemble  anything  else,  or,  as 
have  the  greatest  number  of  important  properties  in  common. 

4.  It  combines  the  principle  of  the  subordination  of  characters 
—  as  of  the  vegetable  functions  to  the  animal,  with  the  coinci- 
dence of  the  two ;  for  it  proceeds  on  the  principle  that  each 
system  is  all-related,  so  that  the  one  graduates  with  the  other. 

5.  It  provides  not  only  for  the  arrangement  of  animals  in^iat- 
ural  groups,  but  also  for  the  arrangement  of  these  groups  in 
an  ascending  series  according  to  the  scale  of  animal  perfec- 
tion; for  it  recognises  degrees  of  value  or  intensity  in  the 
main  phenomena  of  the  animal  economy.     G.  And,  as  we  inti- 


'  Stricklancrs  Eeport  on  Ornithology  before  tlic  British  Association, 
1844,  p.  177. 


228  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

mated  when  treating  of  vegetable  classification,  our  method 
has  become  more  obvious  and  certain  in  the  present  depart- 
ment, .owing  to  the  new  points  of  comparison  and  the  new 
means  of  verification  consequent  on  the  additional  characters 
of  motion,  sensation,  and  constrained  volition.  And  it  fur- 
nishes the  important  test  which  arises  from  successiveness,  or 
the  order  in  which  distinctive  characters  are  developed. 

XV. 

Contingent.  —  Innumerable  illustrations  exist  to  show  that 
the  arrangements  of  animal  life  are  contingent  on  the  Divine 
appointment. 

1.  In  calling  attention  to  the  complex  adjustments  between 
the  animal  constitution  and  pre-existing  nature,  we  may  be  re- 
minded that  such  adaptations  were  made  indispensable  by  the 
previous  conditions  of  the  system  into  which  the  new  constitu- 
tion came.  But  we  have  seen  that  these  conditions  themselves 
exhibit  no  original  and  inherent  material  necessity,  but  were 
primarily  dependent  on  the  Divine  volition.  Whether,  there- 
fore, we  regard  pre-existing  nature  as  designed  in  anticipation 
of  the  animal  constitution,  or  the  latter  as  simply  adapted  to 
the  former,  we  have  a  new  complication  of  the  proof  of  a  de- 
signing will.  Even  if  animal  life  could  be  shown  to  be  a  ne- 
cessary development  of  previously  existing  elements,  still,  as 
no  one  who  admits  that  the  properties  and  laws  of  the  mine- 
ral and  vegetable  kingdoms  were  derived  from  God,  would 
deny  that  He  foresaw  all  such  developments,  they  must  be 
held  to  be  a  new  illustration  of  the  Divine  intention.  No  one 
can  imagine,  for  example,  that  the  air  produced  the  ear,  any 
more  than  he  can  that  the  ear  produced  the  air ;  or  that  the 
two,  with  their  complicated  and  refined  adaptations,  exist  to- 
gether by  accident.  The  light  could  not  have  produced  the 
exquisite  organization  of  the  eye,  any  more  than  the  eye,  as 
an  independent  organization,  could  have  anticipated  the  mys- 
terious laws  of  light. 

2.  But  while  the  idea  of  a  necessary  development  of  animal 
life  is  a  mere  assumption,  the  fact  of  the  Divine  origination  of 
matter  at  first,  is  strongly  in  favor  of  the  inference  of  the  Di- 
vine origination  of  every  new  purpose  to  which  it  is  subsequent- 
ly applied.  In  harmony  with  this  view,  we  find  that  the  fossil 
Fauna  exhibits  no  indication  of  a  regular  development  of  Sf)e- 
cies  from  the  most  simple  up  to  the  most  complex.     Of  the 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  229 

four  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom,  indeed,  the  principal,  or 
vertebral,  appears  last ;  and,  of  this  division,  the  four  classes 
apjDear  in  the  order  of  natural  importance.  But  among  the 
species  of  these  classes,  no  such  order  is  Observable.  For  ex- 
ample, of  the  four  orders  of  iishes,  tlie  oldest  known  fossil  speci- 
men belongs,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  highest  order,  and  occurs 
in  the  Silurian  rocks  ;  while  the  two  lowest  orders  do  not 
make  their  appearance  till  we  reach  the  cretaceous  system. 
We  might  notice  also  the  manner  in  which  whole  families  ap- 
pear, increase,  flourish  for  a  time,  then  decline,  and  finally  dis- 
ippear.  In  the  tertiary  series,  too,  we  come  suddenly  on  an 
ilmost  entire  change  of  species ;  and  yet  so  complete  was  the 
plan  or  outline  of  animal  life,  even  at  that  early  i)eriod,  that  it 
requires  no  reconstruction,  or  essential  enlargement,  for  the 
Fauna  of  the  present  day. 

3.  The  directness  of  the  Divine  volition  is  to  be  inferred 
also  from  the  ground  there  is  to  believe  that  animal  life  is 
more  or  less  independent  of  mere  external  and  pre-existing  in- 
fluences. That  it  presupposes  the  laws  of  the  mineral  and 
vegetable  kingdoms,  and  is  vitally  related  to  them,  we  have 
seen.  Animals  involve,  in  their  construction,  certain  fun?5- 
tional  references  to  the  length  of  the  day,  and  to  the  seasons 
of  the  year.  The  weight  of  the  earth,  the  density  of  the  air, 
the  dimensions  of  the  solar  system,  have  been  taken  into  ac- 
count in  the  plan  of  their  constitution.  But,  besides  this  sys- 
tem of  refined  adjustments  between  things  so  widely  diverse, 
there  are  numerous  indications  that  the  animal  plan  involves 
other  and  higher  arrangements.  There  is,  for  instance,  a  par- 
ticular period  of  the  year  in  which  the  reproductive  system  of 
animals  exercises  its  energies.  And  the  complicated  opera- 
tions of  this  system  "  are  so  arranged  that  the  young  ones  are 
produced  at  the  time  wherein  the  conditions  of  temperature 
are  most  suited  to  the  commencement  of  life."  Now,  that  the 
young  should  appear  just  at  the  season  when  their  food  ap- 
pears, is  itself  a  striking  instance  of  adaptation  ;  but  that  the 
time  for  the  commencemeiit  of  the  reproductive  process  should 
have  been  fixed  with  a  view  to  this  coincidence ;  that  this  com- 
mencement for  the  food  having  been  fixed,  say,  at  two  months 
before,  the  commencement  for  the  feeder  should  have  been 
fixed  at  seven  months  before  that,  in  order  that  both  might  fall 
due  at  the  same  time,  this  must  be  regarded  as  preternatural. 
The  striking  contrast  between  the  embryonic  development  of 
plants  and  animals  is  also  deserving  of  attention ;  for,  while 
20 


230  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

**tlie  primary  object  of  vegetable  structures  appears  to  be  tlie 
establishment  of  the  functions  of  nutrition,"  the  first  indication 
of  organic  development  in  the  animal  embryo  is  a  trace  of  the 
nervous  system,  a  rudiment  of  an  organ  destined  to  subserve  a 
higher  order  of  life,  and  to  subordinate  the  mere  vegetable  or 
organic  life  to  its  use.  The  definite  and  arbitrary  manner  in 
which  i^eculiar  organic  distinctions  and  instincts  are  given  and 
confined  to  certain  animals,  is  further  illustrative  of  the  con- 
tingency of  the  system  on  the  Supreme  will.i  Surely  no  one 
can  imagine  that  there  was  an  inherent  organic  necessity  why 
all  animals  which  chew  the  cud  should  also  cleave  the  hoof; 
or,  any  physical  necessity  why  the  cell  of  the  bee  should  be 
hexagonal,  and  the  bee  be  the  only  insect  that  builds  a  cell 
of  such  a  form. 

Then,  again,  the  very  remarkable  manner  in  which  different 
nerves  are  endowed,  not  with  sensibility  in  general,  but  each 
with  a  different  kind  of  sensibility,  demonstrates  that  this  prop- 
erty does  not  inhere  in  them  necessarily.  The  nerve  of  touch 
is  insensible  to  light ;  the  eye  may  be  fingered  without  pain, 
for  the  optic  nerve  is  sensitive  only  to  light.  Each  part  of  the 
nervous  system  is  an  arbitrary  and  special  j^rovision  for  a  defi- 
nite purpose.  Indeed,  so  long  as  it  is  evident  that  the  mate- 
rial substance  is  not  the  principle  of  organic  life,  any  more 
than  the  living  principle  is  the  material  substance ;  and  so 
long  as  it  appears  that  no  one  organ  is  universal  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  or  essential  to  the  phenomena  of  animal  life,  so  long 
must  we  recognize  in  the  arrangements  of  this  kingdom  the 
operation  of  the  Supreme  will.  And  the  fact  also  that  animals 
can  be  trained  to  changes  of  food,  and  climate,  and  to  the  ac- 
quisition of  new  habits,  evinces  that,  within  certain  limits, 
they  possess  a  constitution  independent  of  everything  but  the 
creative  appointment. 

4.  And  the  same  direct  dependence  of  animal  life  appears 
from  the  want  of  coincidence  observable  between  the  condi- 
tions of  animal  existence  and  the  succession  of  these  exist- 
ences.    It  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  repeat  our  settled  con- 

^  That  the  power  which  determines  these  distinctions  is  not  dependent 
on  external  physical  influences,  "  is  ascertained  from  the  facts,  that  ova 
belonging  to  species  the  most  different  are  all  developed  according  to 
their  kinds,  under  similar  external  conditions  ;  and  that  ova  of  the  same 
species  are  true  to  their  kinds,  under  conditions  which  are  not  absolutely 
the  same  for  any  two  individuals." — Dr.  W.  Clark's  Report  on  Animal 
Physiology,  Brit.  Assoc.  1854. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  281 

viction  that  tlie  appearance  of  animal  life  has  been  made  to 
depend  on  certain  physical  and  organic  conditions.  But  it 
may  be  important  to  restate,  that  it  is  by  no  means  a  conse- 
quence of  this  arrangement,  that  the  existence  of  these  condi- 
tions shall  be  invariably  followed  by  the  existence  of  the  life. 
According  to  the  theory  of  natural  development,  indeed,  this 
connection  is  invariable,  inevitable ;  for  these  natural  condi- 
tions are  supposed  to  be  causes,  and  the  only  causes  necessary 
to  the  production  of  life ;  so  that  if  the  new  creation  did  not 
follow  the  new  condition,  the  law  of  natural  development  would 
prove  a  fiction.  Yet  such  apparent  irregularities  abound.  For 
example,  "  as  to  the  corals  of  the  Silurian  system,  the  Wen- 
lock  species  certainly  did  not  make,  their  api^earance  in  thf" 
calcareous  beds  of  the  Caradoc  series,  where  similar  conditions 
prevailed."!  Again,  certain  families,  the  Nautilus,  Echinus, 
and  Terebratula,  have  pervaded  strata  of  every  age  ;  why  did 
the  physical  conditions  of  the  secondary  series  fail  to  re-pro- 
duce the  Trilobites,  as  they  did  the  Nautilus,  both  of  which 
had  existed  together  in  the  preceding  series  ?  Or  what  was 
there  in  the  fishes  —  say  the  two  orders  of  Cycloids  and  Cte- 
noids,  which  make  their  appearance  for  the  first  time  in  the 
cretaceous  system,  less  suited  to  the  temperature,  and  other 
conditions,  of  the  preceding  series,  than  in  the  Cestraciont  fami- 
ly of  that  series  to  the  conditions  of  the  second  and  the  third, 
throughout  which  they  have  continued  to  exist  together  even 
to  the  present  day  ?  Evidently,  the  physical  conditions  of  life 
are  essentially  distinct  from  its  causes,  and  could  never  have 
been  unphilosophically  confounded  with  them,  but  in  order  to 
'serve  a  hypothesis.  Add  to  which,  the  facts  which  fossil  geol- 
ogy supplies,  if  they  are  to  be  admitted  as  evidence  at  all,  are 
directly  opposed  to  the  theory  of  development.  For  while,  as 
we  have  shown,  the  order  in  which  the  great  vertebral  classes 
come  into  view,  harmonizes  with  the  law  of.  creative  progres- 
sion, the  succession  in  which  the  orders  of  these  classes  make 
their  appearance  is,  on  the  whole,  in  the  reverse  direction. 
Now  if  the  succession  of  the  classes  favors  the  theory  of  natu- 
ral development,  what  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  succession  of 
the  orders  ?  It  will  not  do  to  accept  the  one  as  evidence,  and 
to  put  the  other  out  of  court.  And  then  it  is  to  be  observed 
that,  while  the  apparently  different  direction  taken  by  these 
classes  and  orders  may  be  perfectly  compatible  with  the  ope- 

>  See  Note  H. 


2o2.  THE   PRE-ADAMITE  EARTH. 

ration  of  Divine  appointment,  and  even  intentionally  illustra' 
tive  of  it,  a  single  deviation  from  the  supposed  straight  line 
of  natural  development,  is  entirely  subversive  of  the  theory. 

5.  From  such  evidence,  the  only  conclusion  at  which  we  can 
arrive  is,  that  in  the  animal  kingdom,  as  well  as  in  the  mineral 
and  vegetable  worlds,  the  originating  cause  is  the  Divine  voli- 
tion. And  if  so,  the  time  of  its  commencement,  the  varieties 
which  it  should  include,  the  order  of  their  appearance,  their 
instincts  and  habits,  and  the  geological  and  geographical  dis- 
tribution of  the  entire  plan,  are  dependent  on  the  Sovereign 
will. 

•  XVI. 

Ultimata.  —  If  animal  life  be  thus  dependent  on  the  Divine 
volition,  we  must  expect  to  find  that  it  will  reveal  the  existence 
of  ultimate  truths.  In  the  last  stage,  we  found  the  mystery  of 
organic  life.  In  the  present,  we  find  the  great  mystery  of  sen- 
sation, the  medium  of  enjoyment,  added  to  the  mystery  of  hfe. 
What  is  the  principle  of  a  sense  ?  How  is  it  that  impressions 
on  the  nerves  can  speak  to  the  animal  of  an  external  world  ? 
How  is  it  that,  by  the  aid  of  its  nervous  system,  it  can  become 
acquainted  apparently  not  only  with  impressions,  but  with 
things  ;  with  the  forms,  and  quaUties,  and  actions  of  objects  ? 
And  what  is  the  underived  cause  of  all  the  phenomena  which 
we  denominate  mstinct,  affection,  passion,  and  animal  volition  ? 

1.  There  are  those  who  have  set  about  the  vain  task  of  re- 
solving all  the  phenomena  of  sensation  into  the  operation  of 
physical  agents;  but  one  of  the  first  discoveries  they  have 
made  is,  that  they  must  be  allowed  to  indulge  in  the  slight  in- 
consistency of  supposing  a  principle  not  physical,  in  order  to 
begin  even  to  work  out  their  theory.  For  a  time,  the  vital 
'principle  was  the  popular  hypothesis ;  but  tliis  was  a  principle 
which,  as  it  did  not  belong  to  the  domain  of  physics,  was  the 
very  phenomenon  which  required  explanation.  Bichat  pre- 
ferred animal  sensibility  and  contractility  ;  and  these  words  are 
as  descriptive,  perhaps,  of  what  we  believe  to  take  place,  as 
any  that  can  be  employed  ;  but  still  they  leave  us  to  seek  for 
the  cause  of  the  phenomena.  And,  says  Lamarck,  one  of  tlie 
most  extravagant  speculators  on  the  subject,  "  I  was  soon  con- 
vinced that  the  internal  sentiment  constituted  a  power  which  it 
was  necessary  to  take  into  account."  And,  hence,  Lawrence, 
in  his  lectures  on  physiology,  while   alFirming  that  the  same 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  233 

kind  of  reasoning  which  shows  digestion  to  be  the  function  of 
the  alimentary  canal,  proves  that  sensation  is  the  animal  func- 
tion of  its  appropriate  organ,  adds,  "  if  we  go  beyond  this,  and 
come  to  inquire  the  manner  how,  the  mechanism  by  which, 
these  things  are  eifected,  we  shall  find  everything  around  us 
equally  mysterious,  equally  incomprehensible." 

2.  Further,  "  it  is  useful  to  remark,  that  the  ultimate  laws 
of  nature  cannot  possibly  be  less  numerous,  than  the  distin- 
guishable sensations  or  other  feelings  of  our  nature,  —  those  I 
mean  which  are  distinguishable  from  one  another  in  quality, 
and  not  merely  in  quantity  or  degree."  i  In  relation  to  the 
phenomenon  of  color,  for  example,  no  evidence  that  some 
chemical  or  mechanical  action  invariably  preceded  the  phe- 
nomenon, would  "  explain  how  or  why  a  motion,  or  a  chemical 
action,  should  i^roduce  a  sensation  of  color."  And  the  same 
is  true  of  every  class  of  sensations.  Point  out  as  many  inter- 
vening phenomena  as  we  may,  we  sooner  or  later  come  to  a 
point  where  a  principle  is  to  be  presupposed.  In  every  at- 
tempt at  explanation,  we  have  to  introduce  the  idea  of  some 
antecedent  or  other  which  produces  the  sensation.  In  other 
words,  the  sensitive  process  is  not  caused  by  sensation,  but  by 
some  power  which  exists  independently  of  the  animal  in  which 
its  effects  are  developed. 

Here,  again,  animal  life,  like  organic  life,  is  to  be  viewed  in 
relation  either  to  space  or  to  time.  Eegarded  in  its  relation  to 
space,  the  question  arises,  how  came  it  really  and  objectively 
to  be  ?  We  may  trace  the  phenomena  wliich  it  exhibits,  from 
the  adult  animal  to  the  embryo  -^  or  from  the  animal  of  to-day 
through  fossiliferous  strata  of  every  age,  and  through  varying 
generic  forms,  back  to  the  first  form  of  its  existence,  but  at  no 
stage  can  we  find  that  it  contains  anything  to  account  for  its 
origination.  And  could  we  have  investigated  the  first  animal 
form  that  breathed,  we  must  have  felt  instinctively,  that  the 
reasons  of  its  sensational  existence  at  all  and  of  that  existence 
being  what  it  was,  were  grounded  alike  in  the  will  of  God. 
And  then,  as  to  its  relation  to  time ;  if  the  first  moment  of  ani- 

^  Mills'  Logic,  ii.  §  2. 

^  In  his  work  on  Physiology,  Tiedemann  remavks,  "  When  it  is  said 
that  organic  movements  are  occasioned  by  external  influences,  we  do  not 
admit  that  they  are  the  immediate  effects  of  the  external  mechanical  or 
chemical  impressions  ;  but  we  assert  that  they  are  the  effects  of  powers 
which  the  external  impression,  be  it  mechanical  or  be  it  chemical,  has 
thus  solicited  to  act." 

20* 


234  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

mal  sensation  revealed  a  benevolent  Creator,  the  second  mor 
ment  revealed  a  benevolent  or  ever  acting  Providence,  for  that 
sensation  continued.  To  suppose  that  because  we  see  notliing 
more  than  the  organic  processes,  therefore  there  is  nothing 
more,  is  to  confound  the  means  of  sensational  manifestation 
with  the  thing  manifested.  Laws  are  not  causes.  Nor  do  the 
regularity  of  the  laws  denote  the  absence  of  the  Law-giver. 
Rather,  they  demonstrate  His  presence.  Nor  does  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  organic  processes  render  them  less  dependent 
than  they  were  at  first  —  as  if  they  could  acquire  self-suffi- 
ciency by  the  lapse  of  time.  They  are  now  what  Uiey  were 
when  they  were  called  into  existence  ;  the  mere  means  of  the 
manifestation  of  an  independent  and  anterior  power. 

4.  And  thus  we  have  found  that  everything  traceable  to  an 
ultimate  fact,  involves  a  mystery  which  points  us  silently  but 
emphatically  to  Him  whose  Nature  it  is  calculated  to  illustrate. 
That  one  class  of  physical  phenomena  —  for  example,  the  in- 
organic —  is  associated  with  motion  only ;  that  another  class 
—  the  organic  —  is  associated  with  motion  and  life  ;  and  that 
another  class  of  organized  phenomena  is  associated  with  mo- 
tion, life,  and  sensation,  is,  substantially,  all  that  we  can  learn. 
Why  motion  and  matter,  life  and  matter,  or  sensation  and  mat- 
ter, should  thus  be  found  in  union,  can  be  explained  by  no 
physical  laAv  whatever.  Here  all  the  sciences  are  equally  and 
utterly  at  fault.  They  cannot  show  that  the  union  is  necessa- 
ry ;  but  only  that,  as  fai*  as  observation  goes,  the  conjunction 
is  uniform.  They  cannot  imitate,  but  only  proclaim  it.  Our 
theory  affirms  that  the  sufficient  reason  why  activity,  life,  and 
enjoyment  exist  in  creation,  is  that  the  same  properties  exist 
in  an  infinitely  higher  respect  in  the  Divine  Creator ;  that  one 
reason,  at  least,  why  He  uniformly  associates  each  with  a  cer- 
tain class  of  phenomena,  is  that,  as  the  ultimate  end  of  each  is 
the  manifestation  of  His  Nature,  such  uniformity  is  essential 
in  order  to  our  attainment  of  that  end  ;  and  that  the  mystery 
investing  the  union  of  each  with  a  certain  class  of  phenomena, 
is  just  that  which  necessarily  attends  the  arbitrary  conjunction 
of  things  essentially  different  —  of  Creative  mind  with  created 
matter.  The  mystery  would  not,  could  not,  be  diminished, 
were  activity,  life,  and  sensation  to  be  associated  with  any 
other  class  of  material  phenomena.  And  this  veiy  fact,  by 
proclaiming  the  dependence  of  motion,  life,  and  enjoyment  on 
the  Will  of  the  Creator,  promotes  the  ultimate  end  of  creation 
by  disclosing  the  power  and  wisdom,  the  goodness  and  bound- 
less resources  of  His  exalted  Nature. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  235 


xvn. 

Necessary  truth.  —  The  law  of  ultimate  facts  conducts  us  to 
the  law  of  necessary  truth. 

1.  We  have  seen  matter  take  possession  of  space,  and  life 
take  possession  of  matter ;  now,  we  find  sensibility  added  to 
life.  And  whether  we  look  at  the  addition  as  an  object  or  an 
event,  in  its  relation  to  space  or  to  time,  we  cannot  but  feci 
that  the  idea  of,  at  least,  a  conscious  Creator  is  indispensable. 
The  sentient  object  contains  nothing  in  itself  to  account  i'ov 
anything  more  than  the  manifestation  of  its  peculiar  endow- 
ments ;  the  endowments  themselves  authoritatively  refer  us  to 
an  independent  cause  ;  for  to  conceive  of  their  absolute  seh- 
origination  is  impossible. 

Or  if,  tracing  back  the  existence  of  animal  life  historically, 
we  conceive  of  the  first  of  its  kind,  we  are  compelled  to  pro- 
suppose  an  adequate  cause  of  that  life.  Nor  can  we  then  cou- 
ceive  of  that  Conscious  cause  as  not  existing.  We  cannot  but 
conceive  of  Him  as  existing  prior  to  all  objective  revelation, 
and  independently  of  it.  In  the  objective  world  we  behold 
the  manifestation  of  an  attribute,  which  could  not  but  have 
existed  subjectively  from  eternity.  This  new  stage  of  creation 
brings  to  light  another  of  the  necessary  perfections  of  the 
Creator. 

xvin. 

Change.  —  Once  more  we  are  brought  to  that  point  in  our 
subject  which  leads  us  to  speak  of  the  laiv  of  change. 

1.  And,  again,  we  have  to  remark  that,  in  addition  to  the 
reason  for  expecting  such  a  change  derivable  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  involved  in  the  very  nature  of  a  progressive  system, 
the  introduction  of  animal  life  brings  with  it  an  entirely  new 
ground  for  anticipating  yet  another  stage.  But  the  question 
with  which  we  have  now  especially  to  do,  relates  to  the  reason 
that  made  the  time  of  the  great  change  which  brought  in  the 
human  dispensation,  tlie  right  time.  For  even  those  who,  as 
we  think,  erroneously  adoi  )t  the  hypothesis  of  development  by 
natural  law,  must  admit  that  the  La^vgiver  would  prospecti\e- 
ly  regulate  the  development  of  the  law,  for  the  same  reason 
that  the  law  itself  was  appointed. 

2.  Admitting,  then,  that  the  successive  clianges  of  creation 
have  not  hitherto  taken  place  either  accidentally  or  capricious- 


23 C  THE    PRE-AD AMITE    EAKTK. 

Ij,  we  have  to  advert  to  the  reason  of  the  next  change  which 
ended  the  mere  animal  economy.  Noav  the  event  has  declared 
that  the  new  stage  was  to  be  distinguished  by  the  creation  of 
man.  The  advocates  of  development  by  natural  law  would 
infer,  therefore,  that  as  soon  as  ever  certain  natural  conditions 
were  present,  man  would  emerge  into  being  by  an  inevitable 
necessity ;  that  the  only  reason  for  his  appearance  would  be 
the  concurrence  of  certain  favorable  organic  conditions,  inde- 
pendently of  any  Divine  interposition.  Now,  while  we  freely 
admit  that  the  time  of  man's  creation  presupposes  the  exis- 
tence of  innumerable  conditions,  organic  and  inorganic,  and 
shall  hereafter  have  to  direct  our  admiring  attention  to  the  in- 
conceivable complication  of  these  conditions,  we  must  protest 
more  earnestly  than  ever  against  the  attempt  to  confound  crea- 
ted conditions  with  the  Creating  cause.  For  aught  that  geol- 
ogy can  show  to  the  contrary,  man  might  have  ai)})eared  at  a 
much  earlier  period  than  he  did,  had  it  so  pleased  his  Creator. 
The  origin  of  many  of  the  warm-blooded  species  around  him 
dates  from  an  earlier  period ;  and  who  shall  say  that  the  mere 
natural  conditions  which  their  appearance  presupposes  were 
not  adequate  for  the  time  of  his  appearance,  if  the  Deity  had 
so  pleased?  Were  we  confidently  to  affirm  their  adequacy, 
Ave  should  not  be  so  unphilosophical  as  they  are  who  argue 
that  because  an  event  cannot  take  place  without  certain  condi- 
tions, therefore  it  must  uniformly  and  inevitably  take  place 
with  them. 

3.  While  it  is  admitted,  then,  that,  in  harmony  with  the  law 
of  progression,  the  creation  of  man  could  not  be  expected  to 
take  place  prior  to  the  existence  of  certain  natural  conditions, 
Avhether  or  not  it  might  then  be  exj^ected,  Avould,  we  believe, 
depend  on  what  we  have  called  the  law  of  the  end ;  or,  rather, 
on  the  coincidence  of  the  two  laAvs.  We  have  to  ask,  then, 
\\'hether  the  ultimate  end  of  the  })resent  stage  of  creation  had, 
in  any  sense,  been  adequately  attained  ?  Does  the  long  suc- 
cession of  animal  worlds,  including  the  present,  exhibit  all  the 
illustrations  of  all-sufficient  Benevolence,  which,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, might  have  been  expected  ?  Now  if  we  can  be 
content  with  answering  this  question  inferentially  and  approx- 
imately —  the  only  kind  of  answer  which,  in  the  present  in- 
stance, our  mental  constitution  and  our  data  render  possible  — 
we  can  only  return  one  reply,  and  that  in  the  athrmative.  If 
it  should  appear,  for  example,  not  only  that  the  animal  econ- 
omy is  minutely  adapted  lor  enjoyment,  but  that  the  complica- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  237 

ted  arrangements  of  the  inorganic  and  vegetable  worlds  were 
prospectively  constructed  with  a  view  to  that  enjoyment ;  so 
that  where  before  we  saw  only  design  we  now  see  goodness* 
also ;  if  it  should  appear,  further,  that  animal  life  has  been 
successively  modified,  so  as  to  be  kept  in  harmony  with  the 
altered  character  of  other  kingdoms  of  nature ;  that  this  suc- 
cession of  changes  has  been,  on  the  whole,  a  succession  of  en- 
largements, so  that  both  the  domains  of  animal  life,  and  the 
degree  of  animal  enjoyment,  have  ever  been  on  the  increase ; 
and  that  every  element,  region,  and  situation,  where  life  can 
exist,  is  crowded  with  animated  beings,  as  if  Goodness  rejoiced 
to  find,  in  the  endless  diversity  of  the  physical  conditions,  scope 
for  its  own  endless  resources  to  meet  them,  and  to  convert  them 
into  new  stores  of  enjoyment ;  what  more  can  be  necessary  to 
evince  the  all-sufficiency  of  Creative  benevolence  ? 

4.  Now  that  all  these  conditions  are  realized,  and  realized  in 
a  manner  the  variety  and  degree  of  which  is  inconceivable,  is 
beyond  all  question.  Animal  physiology  shows,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  the  ways  in  which  the  inorganic  and  vegetable  crea- 
tions were  preconfigured  to  the  requirements  of  animal  life, 
are  literally  inniunerable.  Complicated  though  the  laws,  even 
of  the  first  of  these,  were,  to  a  degree  which  science  probably 
will  never  be  able  fully  to  explain  ;  the  addition  of  the  second 
complicated  them  still  further ;  and,  though  the  complication 
was  again  repeated  in  the  addition  of  the  animal  economy,  yet 
every  one  of  them  all  then  became,  for  the  first  time,  a  channel 
of  pleasure.  As  if  every  element  and  law  of  the  material  uni- 
verse had  been  selected,  weighed,  measured,  and  commingled, 
to  form  a  vast  apparatus  for  animal  well-being  alone,  the  whole 
combined  to  welcome  the  new  made  sentient  creation,  and  to 
bathe  it  in  enjoyment.  And  "  the  world,  once  inhabited,  has 
apparently  never,  for  any  ascertainable  period,  been  totally 
despoiled  of  its  living  wonders.  But  there  have  been  many 
.changes  in  the  individual  forms;  great  alterations  in  the  gen- 
eric assemblages ;  entire  revolutions  in  the  relative  number 
and  development  of  the  several  classes.  Thus  the  systems  of 
life  have  been  varied,  from  time  to  time,  to  suit  the  altered  con- 
dition of  the  planet,  but  never  extinguished."  ^  As  we  ascend 
from  the  first  few  species  of  the  Snowdon  slates,  to  the  hun- 
di'cds  of  species  in  the  Silurian  formations,  and  number  almost 

*  Supplementary  Note  to  Prof.  Powell's  Connection,  &c.;  by  John 
Phillips,  Esq.,  p.  309. 


238  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

by  thousands  in  the  oolite,  and  by  thousands  on  thousands  as 
we  pass  through  the  tertiary,  till  we  emerge  amidst  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  now  existing  species,  we  are  struck  not 
merely  with  additions  but  with  changes.  Species,  genera, 
whole  groups  of  animals,  come  in,  and  die  out ;  to  be  replaced 
and  followed  by  others  in  turn.  Four  times,  at  least,  do  these 
changes  take  place  in  the  course  of  the  tertiary  era;  and  to  an 
extent  which  leaves  hardly  a  species  of  the  first  period  extant 
among  the  species  now  living.  Of  testaceous  creatures,  for 
example,  the  conchologist  finds  about  seven  thousand  living 
species.  But  of  these  he  finds  only  one  or  two  among  the  four 
thousand  fossil  kinds,  by  the  time  he  has  descended  to  the 
chalk  formation.  General  analogies  of  structure  and  adapta- 
tion remain,  but  the  species  are  all  changed. ^  Of  fishes,  the 
carboniferous,  oolitic,  and  chalk  formations,  present  respectively 
an  entire  change  of  genera.  Agassiz,  who  enumerates  seven- 
teen hundred  species  of  fossil  fishes,  and  about  eight  thousand 
living  species,  states  that,  with  the  solitary  excejDtion  of  a  spe- 
cies found  in  the  nodules  of  claystone,  on  the  coast  of  Green- 
land, and  which  is  probably  a  modern  concretion,  he  has  "  found 
no  animal  in  all  the  transition,  secondary,  and  tertiary  strata, 
which  is  specifically  identical  with  any  fish  now  living."  2  In- 
deed, not  a  single  species  of  fossil  fishes  has  yet  been  found 
that  is  common  to  any  two  great  geological  formations.^ 

5.  The  evidence,  however,  that  animal  life,  once  introduced 
on  the  earth,  has  been  continued  through  immeasurable  periods, 
and  not  only  continued,  but  enlarged,  and  not  only  enlarged  but 
changed  again  and  again  for  new  systems  of  life  —  though  suf- 
ficient of  itself  to  establish  the  power  of  the  Deity  to  impart 
unlimited  sentient  enjoyment  —  we  have  the  means  of  increas- 
ing to  any  amount.  As  to  the  wonderful  diversity  of  animal 
sizes,  we  might  begin  with  Ehrenberg's  pohshing  slate,  formed 
of  infusoria,  of  which  about  41,000  millions  are  contained  in 
a  cubic  inch ;  or  still  lower  with  the  animalcules  of  the  Rasen- 
eisen  or  iron-clod,  of  which  a  cubic  inch  contains  about  a  bil- 
lion ;  and  we  might  show  them  ranging  through  all  the  inter- 
mediate degrees  up  to  the  crocodilean  Megalosaurus  of  fifty  or 
seventy  feet  in  length,  or  to  the  Dinotherium  giganteum,  the 
largest  of  all  terrestrial  mammalia  yet  discovered.     We  might 

*  Lycll's  Prin.,  iii.  369—373.     Fifth  Edit. 

'  Poissons  Possilcs.  Tom.  1.  pt.  xxx.,  T.  iii.  p.  1 — 52. 

»  Dr.  Buckhmd,  vol  i.  p.  273—277. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  239 

speak  of  the  vast  variety  of  animal  forms;  but,  of  these,  the 
mind  is  apt  to  fix  onl)^  on  the  more  stranp^e  and  striking  — the 
heavy-armed  megathei-ium,  the  large-eyed  ichtliyosaunan,  the 
colossal  lizard  igiianodon,  the  long  necked  plesiosaurian,  and 
the  still  more  monstrous  bat-winged  ])tei-odactyle  —  and  to 
overlook  the  ten  thousand  ordinary  forms  of  animal  life  ;  while 
to  think  of  the  internal  structures  suggested  by,  and  answering'- 
to,  all  these  forms,  is  to  be  absolutely  overwhelmed.  Advert 
ing  to  the  multiplication  of  life  characteristic  of  some  species, 
we  might  point  to  the  remarkable  fact  that  the  creatures  com- 
monly referred  to  as  the  smallest  in  size,  should  be  those  which, 
by  their  rapid  increase,  present  themselves  in  the  most  amaz- 
ing masses.  Thus  the  Monada^,  the  smallest  of  infusoria,  form, 
by  accumulation,  subterraneous  strata  many  flithoms  in  thick- 
ness. The  mountain  limestone,  about  a  thousand  feet  thick, 
and  often  many  miles  in  length  and  breadth,  consists  of  nothing 
else  than  the  remains  of  coralline  and  testaceous  forms  com- 
pressed into  hard  masses.'  In  relation  to  animal  fecundity,  it 
is  enough  to  refer  either  to  parts  of  the  Greenland  seas  so 
swarming  with  medusa?  that,  as  it  has  been  curiously  calcu- 
lated, in  a  cubic  mile  the  number  is  such  that,  allowing  one 
person  to  count  a  million  in  a  week,  it  would  have  required 
eighty  thousand  persons,  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  to 
complete  the  enumeration;  or  to  the  hotter  zones  of  the  earth, 
where,  between  the  tropics,  many  thousand  square  miles  of 
ocean  teem  with  light-engendering  hfe ;  and,  of  "  the  wide  level 
glowing  with  lustrous  sparks,  every  spark  is  the  vital  motion 
of  an  invisible  animal  world. "  Of  the  universality  of  animal 
life  we  sfiall  speak  again  ;  for  the  present  it  may  be  sufficient 
to  state,  generally,  that,  from  the  floor  of  the  ocean,  where  its 
depths  surpass  the  height  of  our  loftiest  mountains,  every  suc- 
cessive stratum  of  waters  is  crowded  with  its  own  orders  of 
life  ;  and  that  from  the  sea-shores  where  the  innumerable  hosts 
of  light  flashing  mammaria  "  turn  each  wave  into  luminous 
foam,"  up  through  every  stage  of  ground  rising  to  the  line  of 
eternal  snow,  animal  life  is  adapted  to  every  part,  and  is  dif- 
fused over  the  whole. 

6.  Here,  surely,  is  evidence  more  than  adequate  to  attest 


*  There  is  now  considerable  evidence  that  the  vast  deposits  spoken  of 
here  and  in  the  ])receding  page,  and  supposed  by  Ehrcnberg:  to  consist 
of  infusorial  remains,  should  be  referred  to  the  vegetable  kingdom.  This 
circumstance,  however,  does  not  prejudice  the  train  of  thouglit  which  led 
to  the  reference.     Other  illustrations  of  it  might  be  easily  summoned. 


240  THE    PRE-ADAlVnTE    EARTH. 

the  siifficiencj  of  Divine  benevolence  for  the  same  hind  of 
sentient  enjoyment  to  any  possible  extent.  That  the  display, 
boundless  as  it  is  to  us,  is  not  absolutely  infinite,  is  admitted, 
for  such  a  display  is  an  impossibility ;  and,  if  possible,  would 
be  utterly  useless  to  man  as  a  proof  of  infinite  goodness.  That 
the  display,  indefinite  as  it  is  to  us,  might  be  more  extended 
still,  inasmuch  as  the  planet  itself  might  have  been  more  ex- 
tended, is  admitted,  and  the  same  might  be  said,  and  would  be 
true,  even  though  the  enlargement  should  advance  for  ever. 
But  the  question  is,  whether  the  existing  display  of  the  Divine 
resources  is  not  suflScient  to  warrant  the  conviction,  that,  even 
in  the  event  of  such  enlargement,  Creative  Benevolence  would 
be  more  than  adequate  to  replenish  the  whole  with  enjoyment ; 
that  though  the  largest  material  area  must  be  necessarily  lim- 
ited, the  goodness  of  God  could  fill  the  whole,  and  show  itself 
unlimited  ?  Now,  no  one  can  doubt,  judging  from  the  proof? 
we  possess,  the  adequacy  of  the  divine  resources  for  an  ever 
increasing  exercise  of  the  same  kind  of  benevolence  to  any 
extension  of  space  or  of  time.  But,  if  the  design  of  the  animal 
creation  be  to  illustrate,  in  the  sense  explained,  the  all-suffi- 
ciency of  the  Divine  goodness,  we  must  admit,  that  not  till  the 
evidence  of  such  sufficiency  was  complete,  could  the  appropri- 
ate time  for  man's  creation  have  arrived. 

XIX. 

Reason  of  the  Method. —  Respecting  the  reason  of  the  Divine 
method  in  creation,  we  have  again  to  remark  that  it  is  twofold ; 
relating,  partly,  to  the  constitution  of  the  creature  by  whom  the 
method  is  to  he  studied,  and  involving  his  well-being  ;  and  partly 
to  his  destiny,  as  a  being  capcd)le  of  voluntarily  promoting  the 
great  end  of  creation,  and  so  involving,  in  addition,  the  glory  of 
the  Divine  Creator. 

1.  In  illustration  of  the  first  part,  it  would  be  easy  to  show, 
were  this  the  proper  place,  that  there  is  not  one  of  the  laws  of 
the  method  to  which  our  attention  has  been  directed,  which  is 
not  indispensable.  Thus,  by  placing  the  animal  in  universal 
relation  to  the  inorganic  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  and  by  ex- 
pressing this  complicated  relation  with  all  the  constancy  and 
regularity  of  law,  the  Creator  was  but  saying,  in  effisct,  in  ref- 
erence to  man,  Let  his  domestication  of  animals  and  their  sub- 
serviency to  him,  be  possible.  And  so  also  in  constructing  the 
animal  economy  according  to  a  plan.  He  was,  in  effect,  deter- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  241 

tcrmining  that  comparative  anatomy,  and  animal  physiology, 
should  be  possible  to  man.  The  training  and  government  of 
animals  are  among  man's  first  lessons  on  the  art  of  self-gov- 
ernment, especially  in  the  pastoral  and  agricultural  states  of 
society,  while  their  habits  and  instincts  are  full  of  instruction, 
and  the  sights  and  sounds  with  which  they  enliven  creation 
are  perpetually  appealing  to  his  emotions. 

But,  thfeii,  if  man  is  to  be  educated  and  benefitted  by  this 
stage  of  the  Divine  procedure,  a  medium  must  be  observed 
between  a  disheartening  depth  and  diversity  in  its  laws,  on 
the  one  hand ;  and  a  tame,  unexciting  superficiality  and  same- 
ness, on  the  other.  The  effect  of  the  former  extreme  would 
be,  that  the  volume  of  nature  would  never  be  opened ;  and  the 
result  of  the  latter,  that  it  would  be  shut  almost  as  soon  as 
opened.  Now  that  such  a  medium  is  observed,  is  evident  from 
the  event.  The  zoology  of  nature  is,  ordinarily,  the  first  book 
that  engages  the  attention  of  childhood,  and  stimulates  its 
opening  efforts  at  comparison.  It  was  the  book  from  which 
the  father  of  the  human  race  received  his  "  first  lessons  on 
objects."!  And  though  from  that  time  to  this,  man  has  been 
exploring  its  pages,  yet,  so  far  from  being  exhausted,  it  never 
engaged  so  much  attention  as  it  does  at  present,  nor  so  filled 
the  student  with  the  conviction  that  it  is  inexhaustible.  But 
it  addresses  only  the  attentive  eye  and  the  willing  ear.  For 
the  observant  and  comparing  eye  of  an  Aristotle,^  it  has  still 
unnumbered  facts  awaiting  the  right  arrangement,  and  laws 
admitting  of  illustration  to  an  indefinite  extent.  And  for  the 
listening  ear,  it  is  ever  uttering  new  ^sopian  fables,  and  each 
with  a  weighty  moral ;  but  only  for  the  listening  ear. 

2.  The  second  part  of  the  reason  is  equally  self-commend- 
ing ;  for  if  animated  nature  is  to  be  so  construed  by  man  as  to 
subserve  the  ultimate  end  of  creation,  all  the  laws  which  we 
have  pointed  out  as  belonging  to  the  method  of  the  Divine 
procedure  are,  in  one  respect  or  another,  indispensable.  They 
have  made  the  manifestation  of  the  Creator  possible.  We 
cannot,  indeed,  conceive  of  his  operations,  except  as  activity 
according  to  law ;  for  He  is  "  the  God  of  order."  So  that  in 
embodying  law,  and  making  it  visible.  He  is  saying,  in  effect, 
Let  the  knowledge  of  the  Lawgiver  be  possible.     In  imprint- 

^  Gen.  ii.  19,  20. 

^  Conformity  of  structure  is  the  leading  principle  of  his  classification 
of  animals,  in  his  work,  nepl  Zwwv  ^iGtoplag,  as  well  as  of  Cuvier  in  his 
Le  liegne  Animal. 

21 


242  THE    PRE-ADAlVnTE    EARTH. 

ing  certain  signs  of  dependence  on  animated  nature,  He  is,  in 
effect,  leading  up  our  minds  to  His  own  independence.  The 
manner  in  which  He  has  been  pleased  to  add  sentient  enjoy- 
ment to  organic  life,  is  studiously  adapted  to  remind  us  that 
the  addition  was  by  no  means  inherently  necessary ;  but  that 
everything  relating  to  the  mode  of  its  manifestations,  to  the 
extent  of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  to  its  progressive  filling  up, 
are  all  referrible  to  His  own  purpose.  So  also  of  the  selected 
and  prepared  variety  of  natural  productions  which  awaited 
the  coming  of  man ;  "  till  that  variety  was  occasioned  on  the 
globe,  it  was  not  the  fitting  place  for  intellectual  man  that  it 
now  is.  For,  surely,  among  other  uses  and  correlations  of  the 
visible  creation,  this  is  one  —  by  its  inexhaustible  diversity, 
and  ever-growing  newness,  to  interest  with  a  perpetual  charm 
the  growing  mind  of  a  rational  being,  and  to  lead  him  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  divine  thing  within  him,  which  raises  him 
above  all  that  his  senses  make  known  ;  and  thus  to  fit  him  for 
the  highest  contemplation  of  which  he  is  capable ;  namely,  the 
relation  which  he  bears  to  the  unseen  Author  of  all  tliis 
visible  material  world."i 

3.  Here  again,  however,  the  means  must  be  measured,  and 
the  evidence  balanced  between  two  extremes.  The  signs  of 
the  Divine  presence  and  agency  must  be  sufficient  for  convic- 
tion, but  not  for  compulsion.  Accordingly,  every  law  has  its 
apparent  exception  ;  and  every  phenomenon  its  centre  or  cir- 
cumference of  difficulty  and  mystery.  The  uniformity  of  na- 
ture holds  on  its  way,  leaving  man  to  infer  its  Divine  origin- 
ation and  superintendence,  or,  if  he  will,  to  "  explode  the 
hypothesis  of  a  God."  The  evidences  of  design  are  inexhaust- 
ible ;  but  if  man  chooses  to  call  certain  things  wdiich  his  '  know- 
ledge but  of  yesterday'  fails  at  present  to  explain,  defects,  no 
coercive  power  restrains  liim.  Proofs  of  the  Divine  goodness 
are  lavished  around  him  ;  but  if  he  is  pleased  to  infer  that  the 
conflicting  instincts  of  animals,  and  animal  death,  are  incom- 
patible with  goodness,  though  forming,  in  fact,  a  provision  for 
securing  the  greatest  amount  of  sentient  enjoyment  —  he  is  at 
responsible  liberty  to  do  so.  The  law^s  of  nature  are  not 
audibly  proclaimed  from  Sinai ;  though,  to  the  apprehensive 
mind,  every  object  is  a  table  of  stone,  written  over  with,  the 
finger  of  God.  Nature  is  a  volume  which  is  "  open  night  and 
day,"  and  he  that  runneth  may  read.     But  while  to  one  the 

'  Professor  Phillips. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  213 

very  first  page  is  gloriously  inscribed  with  the  great  name  of 
the  Author,  to  another  every  page  is  a  blank ;  for  it  is  writteL 
throughout  as  with  sympathetic  ink. 

XX. 

The  ultimate  end.  —  The  laws  of  the  method^  and  the  reason 
of  it,  fold  their  end,  in  relation  to  the  present  stage  of  the 
Divine  procedure,  in  contributing  to  illustrate  the  ail-sujfficiency 
of  the  goodness  of  God. 

1.  In  harmony  with  the  view  already  propounded,  that  each 
preceding  display  of  the  Divine  perfection  may  be  expected  to 
be  brought  forwards  and  enlarged  in  each  successive  stage  of 
creation,  we  have  to  remark  on  the  continued  exercise  of  the 
power  of  the  Deity.  During  the  whole  of  the  period  now 
under  consideration,  the  forces  of  inorganic  nature  continued, 
as  far  as  we  know,  in  full  activity.  The  celestial  mechanism 
was  ever  in  motion.  On  our  own  planet,  the  gradual  uprising 
of  the  Carpathians,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  and  other  moun- 
tain chains,  showed  the  unspent  activity  of  the  subterranean 
forces.  While  the  regular  reproduction  -of  organic  life  after 
each  geological  change,  and  on  the  return  of  every  season, 
went  on  augmenting  the  proofs  of  the  all-sufficiency  of  the 
Divine  Power.  But  here  were  now  new  displays  of  the  same 
energy.  It  originated  and  sustained  the  new  principle  of  ani- 
mal life  in  all  its  endless  varieties  of  organization.  Life  by 
no  means  necessarily  results  from  any  of  these  varieties.  And 
hence  it  is  that  no  organ  is  universal  in  the  animal  kingdom. 
Uniform,  therefore,  as  the  connection  may  be  between  animal 
organization  and  animal  life,  the  former  is  necessary  to  the 
latter,  not  for  its  existence,  but  only  for  its  exhibition.  And 
the  more  comphcated  the  organization,  the  richer  the  illustra- 
tion supplied  of  the  energy  of  the  great  originating  Cause. 
The  single  property  of  muscular  contractility,  adapted  and 
employed  as  it  is  by  the  Divine  wisdom,  converts  the  breath- 
ing frame  into  a  system  of  animal  mechanics  of  prodigious 
power  and  incessant  activity.  But  in  order  to  form  an  idea 
of  the  display  of  energy  added,  by  this  stage  of  creation,  to  all 
that  had  gone  before,  we  should  be  able  to  multiply  the  aver- 
age strength  of  each  animal  engine  by  the  average  number  of 
myriads  living  at  any  one  time,  and  these  agam  by  the  myriads 
of  ages  which  have  elapsed  since  animal  life  commenced. 

2.  And  here  again  Power  is  seen  subservient  to  Wisdom ; 


244  THE    PR E-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

presenting  its  vast  resources  as  means  for  the  accomplislimeni 
of  important  ends.  In  the  first  stage,  for  instance,  we  saw 
that  air  was  the  great  agent  in  the  changes  of  meteorology ;  in 
the  second,  we  saw  every  leaf  of  the  forest  feeding  on  it ;  and 
now  we  find  it  discharging  additional  offices,  as  the  breath  of 
animal  life,  and  the  vehicle  of  sound.  Thus,  at  every  step, 
our  views  of  the  prospective  arrangements  of  creation  acquire 
a  wider  range,  and  the  proofs  of  Design  become  more  compli- 
cated and  profound.  Again  :  we  saw  that  the  atmosphere  i.s 
composed  of  different  khids  of  air,  and  that  these  again  are  of 
different  densities.  What  then  will  take  place  when  two  or 
more  kinds  of  air  are  brought  together  ?  will  not  the  heavier 
subside,  and  the  lighter  ascend,  like  oil  floating  on  water? 
The  analogy  of  gases  to  liquids  would  lead  us  to  expect  this. 
But  the  "  principle  of  gaseous  diffusion,"  as  it  is  called,  deter- 
mines otherwise.  Two  kinds  of  air  —  say  hydrogen  and  car- 
bonic acid,  which  latter,  bulk  for  bulk,  is  twenty  times  heavier 
than  hydrogen  —  cannot  be  in  contact  without  melting  away 
into  each  other,  and  becoming  uniformly  mixed.  Is  any  end 
to  be  answered  by  this  remarkable  law  ?  Is  it  a  provision  ?  Now 
that  the  animal  kingdom  is  come,  if  not  before,  we  can  reply  to 
the  inquiry.  If  the  heavy  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere, 
copiously  generated  as  it  is  from  a  variety  of  sources,  had 
simply  obeyed  the  law  of  gravitation,  and  rested  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  animal  life  would  have  been  poisoned  in  its  birth. 
If  the  whole  were  collected  into  a  bed  or  layer,  it  is  calculated 
that  it  would  surround  the  surface  of  the  earth  with  a  stratum 
of  about  thirteen  feet  in  thickness.  In  this  irrespirable  all- 
encircling  ocean,  life  would  be  impossible.  But  the  law  of 
inter-ditfusion  is  always  in  silent  operation,  obviating  the  evil. 
By  it  the  most  noxious  exhalations  are  diluted,  and  made  inno- 
cent. And  thus  —  not  by  a  chemical  action  of  the  gases  on 
each  other —  but  by  simple  mixture,  by  an  aerial  mechanism, 
a  world  of  life  and  happiness  exists,  where  else  there  would 
have  stagnated  and  slept  an  ocean  of  death. 

3.  What  is  the  form  or  figure  to  be  given  to  a  solid  body,  of 
certain  dimensions,  in  order  that  it  may  move  through  the  air 
or  water  with  the  least  resistance  ?  Mathematical  reasoning 
of  a  very  abstruse  nature  determines  that  it  must  be  a  curve. 
But  the  curve-like  face  or  front  of  fishes  anticipates  the  discov- 
ery, and  shows  their  adaptation,  on  matliematical  principles, 
for  most  easily  moving  through  the  element  they  were  made  to 
live  in.     The  art  of  ship-building  has  reached  its  present  per- 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  245 

fection  as  the  result  of  many  corrections,  improvements,  and 
slowly-matured  devices.  They  are  all  forestalled  in  nature  ; — 
the  boat-like  figure ;  the  paddle-shaped  levers,  and  their  suc- 
cessive impulses  ;  the  rudder-like  tail ;  the  sail-like  membrane, 
hoisted  or  furled,  with  ease,  for  scudding  before  the  breeze. 
The  valves  by  which  the  maker  of  a  hydraulic  engine  prevents 
the  retrograde  motion  of  the  fluids  which  are  to  pass  through 
particular  parts,  were  performing  their  functions  in  the  animal 
economy  before  man  was  made.  Long-continued  mathematical- 
and  chemical  experiments  have  led  to  a  succession  of  improve- 
ments in  the  instruments  of  the  optician ;  but  on  comparing 
each,  in  succession,  with  the  eye,  they  are  found  to  be  all 
there  ;  together  with  a  number  of  j^ro visions  —  exquisite  rciine- 
ments  of  provision  —  unknown  to  man's  imperfect  workman- 
ship, and  by  which  the  refracting  powers  of  the  eye  are  instant- 
ly adjusted  to  the  different  distances  of  the  objects  viewed,  the 
organ  is  rendered  achromatic,  is  protected,  kept  clean,  and 
moved  in  various  directions.  The  engineer  makes  his  axles 
and  various  parts  of  his  machinery  hollow,  for  it  has  been  dis- 
covered that  hollow  rods  and  tubes,  of  the  same  length 
and  quantity  of  matter,  have  more  strength  than  solid  ones. 
The  bones  of  animals  are  all  more  or  less  hollow ;  and  thus 
attain  the  end  of  the  greatest  strength  with  the  least  weight 
and  quantity  of  matter.  In  the  bones  of  birds,  this  principle 
is  remarkably  exemplified,  as  well  as  in  the  construction  of 
their  quills;  and  thus  they  are  adapted  for  flight.  But,  in 
addition,  in  distinction  from  all  other  animals,  the  air  vessels 
of  their  lungs  communicate  with  the  hollow  parts  of  their 
bodies,  enabling  them  to  blow  out  their  bodies  as  we  do  a 
bladder,  and  thus  to  rise  and  to  regulate  their  flight.  The  air- 
bladders  of  fishes  answer  a  similar  purpose.  Mathematical 
reasoning  demonstrates  that  if  it  be  proposed  to  fill  a  certa'n 
space  with  the  greatest  number  of  little  cells,  all  of  the  same 
size  and  shape,  there  are  only  three  shapes  which  will  answer  ; 
and  that,  of  these,  that  which  combines  the  greatest  convenience 
with  the  greatest  strength,  is  the  figure  of  six  equal  side  . 
Now  this  is  precisely  the  shape  of  the  cells  of  bees,  by  which 
they  effect  the  greatest  possible  saving  both  of  room  and  of 
material.  But  more  ;  the  higher  parts  of  algebra  enable  t\\o. 
mathematician  to  prove  that,  to  save  the  most  room,  and  to 
give  the  greatest  strength  to  the  cell,  the  loof  and  the  floo,- 
must  be  made  of  three  square  planes  meeting  in  a  point ;  n\,d 
that  there  is  one  particular  inclination  of  thCiC  planes  to  ea-u 
2i^ 


246  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

other  where  they  meet,  which  effects  a  greater  saving  of  mate- 
rial and  of  labor  than  any  other  inclination  could  effect.  Thou- 
sands of  years  before  the  mathematician  had  slowly  and  ab- 
strusely worked  his  way  to  this  conclusion  —  a  conclusion  of 
which  Newton  was  ignorant,  though  it  is  one  of  the  fruits  of 
his  most  wonderful  discovery  —  the  bee  was  acting  in  harmony 
with  it  in  every  cell  which  it  made.  As  far  as  we  know,  the 
beaver  builds  his  dam  on  principles  as  mathematically  correct, 
to  give  the  greatest  resistance  to  the  water  in  its  tendency  to 
turn  the  dam  round,  as  the  bee  its  cell.^  But  the  illustrations 
of  Creative  wisdom,  in  the  animal  kingdom,  are  endless. 
Every  page  of  science  teems  with  them. 

4.  The  particular  and  proximate  ends  attained  in  the  ani- 
mal economy  are  innumerable,  and  yet  all  related.  For  exam- 
ple :  there  is  hardly  a  bone  which  has  not  a  constitution  of  its 
own,  or  a  disposition  of  its  material  specifically  adjusted  to  its 
place  and  use ;  there  is  not  one  of  these  which  is  not  formed  in 
relation  to  the  whole  individual  structure  to  which  it  belongs  ; 
there  is  not  an  individual  structure  which  is  not  formed  in 
relation  to  the  entire  scheme  of  animal  organization  ;  while 
that  scheme  itself  exists  in  close  relationship  to  the  whole  circle 
of  external  nature.  Still  more  are  we  impressed  with  the 
resources  of  Creative  wisdom  when  we  reflect,  that  while  the 
admission  of  a  single  new  principle  into  a  complicated  machine 
is  attended  with  results  which  the  utmost  ingenuity  can  hardly 
anticipate,  the  indescribable  variety  of  form  and  condition  in 
which  animal  life  seems  to  revel  is  the  result  of  a  principle 
endlessly  diversified,  as  if  for  the  sole  purpose  of  showing  that 
the  difficulties  created  can  be  overcome.  We  might  instance 
the  various  modes  of  reproduction,  gemmiparous  and  gemmuli- 
parous,  fissiparous  and  oviparous,  marsupial  and  viviparous ; 
and  the  diversified  kinds  of  locomotion.  The  number  of  dis- 
tinct species  of  insects  already  known  is  about  a  hundred  thou- 
sand ;  but  while  every  species  differs  from  all  the  rest,  conform- 
ity is  preserved  throughout  the  whole  to  the  same  general  plan 
of  construction.  Even  when  the  purpose  to  be  attained  is 
identical,  the  means  which  are  employed  are  inconceivably 
diversified,  and  although  this  diversity  has  to  be  carried  through 
the  minutest  parts  of  the  organization,  yet  every  structure, 
from  the  most  simple  to  the  most  comphcated,  is  alike  finished, 

'  See  the  admirable  Pi-eliminary  Treatise  of  the  Lilirary  of  Useful 
Knowledge,  on  the  Objects,  Advantages,  and  Pleasures  of  Science. 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  247 

and  perfectly  adaj^ted  to  its  destined  condition.  And  when  we 
find,  in  addition,  that  all  this  variety  of  mechanical  cont^i^•ances, 
chemical  agencies,  jjrospective  arrangements,  com})ensations, 
and  compreherlsive  inter-dependencies,  is  the  develoi)ment  of 
a  scheme  which  embraces  the  whole  range  of  zoology ;  and 
that  even  when  no  other  end  appears  to  be  answered  by  any 
part  of  the  process,  it  has,  at  least,  a  direct  application  in  fill- 
ing up  a  place  which  would  be  otherwise  unoccupied  in  the 
all-comprehending  system,  we  almost  involuntarily  coniess  to 
the  boundlessness  of  the  Creative  wisdom. 

5.  But  here,  both  Power  and  Wisdom  are  seen  in  subser- 
vience to  Goodness.  The  results  of  the  preceding  stages  of 
creation  are  brought  on  to  the  present.  So  that  on  looking 
back  from  this  advanced  position,  we  can  now  see  goodness, 
where  before  we  beheld  only  wisdom  and  power ;  for  we  per- 
ceive that  both  the  productions  of  power,  and  the  arrangements 
of  wisdom,  waited  to  find  their  places  in  the  service  of  Benevo- 
lence ;  that  when  Omnipotence  was  laying  the  foundations  of 
the  earth,  and  Infinite  Wisdom  was  rearing  the  superstruc- 
ture, it  was  only  that  Goodness  might  have  a  theatre  in  wliich 
to  display  its  inexhaustible  resources  of  animal  enjoyment. 

6.  Now  what  are  the  conditions  on  which  the  conclusion  — 
that  animated  nature  is  calculated  to  illustrate  the  all-suffi- 
ciency of  the  goodness  of  God  —  might  be  reasonably  accept- 
ed ?  The  most  obvious  and  general  of  these  seems  to  be,  that 
the  tendency  of  animal  life  should  decidedly  preponderate  iu 
favor  of  enjoyment.  The  monuments  of  power  and  skill  are 
to  us  infinite.  Had  the  amount  of  animal  suffering  borne  any 
proportion  to  them,  or  had  it  been  nearly  balanced  with  ani- 
mal enjoyment,  we  might  have  hesitated  as  to  the  Benevo- 
lence of  the  Creator,  in  this  particular.  But  the  tendency  to 
suffering  as  compared  with  the  immensity  of  his  w^orks,  is 
quite  as  small  as  the  proportion  of  cases  in  which  design  is  un- 
discoverable  is  to  those  of  acknowledged  contrivance.  So  evi- 
dently and  so  designedly  is  the  tendency  of  animal  existence 
in  favor  of  enjoyment,  that  it  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  re- 
ferring it  to  Divine  Benevolence.  "  Contrivance  proves  de- 
sign," says  Paley,!  "  and  the  predominant  tendency  of  the  con- 
trivance indicates  the  dis230sition  of  the  designer.  The  world 
abounds  with  contrivances ;  and  all  the  contrivances  which  we 
are  acquainted  with,  are  directed  to  beneficial  purposes." 

'  Moral  Phil.,  p.  51. 


248  THE   PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

7.  But  if  tins  representation  be  correct,  we  may  expect  that 
a  Benevolent  Being  will  create  as  great  a  number  of  animals 
as  possible,  consistently  with  other  claims,  in  order  that  tlie 
amount  of  enjoyment  may  be  the  greater.  And,  as  the  same 
kind  of  animal  could  only  exist  in  one  condition,  and  yet  the 
conditions  of  external  nature  are  exceedingly  diversified,  we 
may  expect,  for  the  same  reason,  that  different  races  will  be 
created  for  different  conditions  ;  so  that  the  means  of  happi- 
ness may  be  improved  to  the  utmost.  And,  as  the  amount  of 
animal  life  might  be  vastly  increased,  if  a  portion  of  the  food 
required  could  be  animated  and  happy  till  it  is  wanted  as  sus- 
tenance, we  may  expect,  that,  if  consistent  with  goodness,  life 
will  be  thus  conditionally  granted  to  it.  Now  all  these  condi- 
tions are  found  to  be  fulfilled  on  a  most  magnificent  scale. 

As  to  the  existing  numbers  of  the  animal  kingdom,  more 
than  a  thousand  species  of  quadrupeds,  five  thousand  species 
of  birds,  and  as  many  of  fishes,  are  now  known  to  naturalists. 
Of  reptiles,  the  number  and  variety  are  immense  but  unknown. 
"  The  species  of  shell-fish  or  testacea,  crustaceous  animals, 
worms,  radiated  animals,  and  zoophytes,  which  almost  cover 
the  bottom  of  the  vast  abyss,  exceed  all  calculation.  The 
forms  of  animalcules  vary  in  almost  every  infusion  of  vegeta- 
ble or  animal  matter  which  nature  presents."  Nine  hundred 
species  of  intestinal  worms  have  already  been  extracted  from 
the  bodies  of  animals,  and  even  some  of  these  worms  have 
parasites  within  them.  And  of  insects,  a  hundred  thousand 
species  are  known.  -But  the  number  of  species  affords  but  a 
faint  idea  of  the  incalculable  myriads  of  individuals  which 
some  of  them  include.  Vast  flocks  of  birds  sometimes  darken 
the  heavens  like  an  eclipse.  Clouds  of  life  float  in  the  atmos- 
phere. Immense  tracts  of  the  ocean  are  often  colored  by  me- 
dusae, or  covered  as  with  a  sheet  of  fire.  Every  drop  of  the 
ocean,  from  pole  to  pole,  teems  with  existence.  "  These  all 
wait  upon  thee,  O  God ;  and  thou  givest  them  their  meat  in 
due  season." 

Nor  is  any  part  of  the  surface  of  the  globe  untenanted.  The 
tropical  desert,  and  the  arctic  sea,  the  stagnant  marsh,  and  the 
deep  sands  of  the  ocean,  the  mud  and  the  rocky  strata,  the  sub- 
terranean cavern  and  the  eternal  hills  of  Polar  ice,  not  less 
than  the  temperate  clime,  and  the  open  and  undulating  plain, 
are  full  of  animal  existence.  The  malaria  fatal  to  one  race  is 
the  necessary  condition  of  life  to  another.  Where  one  species 
terminates  its  range  of  enjoyment,  another  begins.  Desola- 
tion owns  not  a  foot  of  the  globe. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  249 

To  Increase  the  amount  of  happiness  still  further,  not  only 
is  a  large  proportion  of  the  food  of  animals  endowed  with  life ; 
some  exist  entirely  on  ova,  and  on  the  rapidly  multiplied  em- 
bryos of  others,  thus  preventing  their  injurious  increase  ;  some 
on  the  excreted  matters  of  the  skin  ;  and  some,  not  only  on, 
but  in  others,  inhabiting  the  organs  and  secretions  of  tlie  inte- 
rior, to  the  mutual  advantage,  probably,  of  both  kinds.  One 
of  the  ends  of  the  Divine  arrangement  of  the  animal  kingdom 
evidently  is,  the  production  of  the  largest  amount  of  life  and 
enjoyment. 

8.  But  if  every  element,  region,  and  situation  where  life  can 
exist  is  to  be  thus  crowded  with  animated  beings,  the  same 
animal  conformation  would  be  so  ill  adapted  for  many  of  these 
externa:!  conditions  that  life  and  wretchedness  would  mean  the 
same  thing.  The  benevolence  of  the  Creator,  therefore,  may 
be  expected  to  find  scope  in  adapting  the  animal  to  its  condi- 
tion. Accordingly,  these  adaptations  exist ;  and  so  numerous, 
varied,  and  minute  are  they,  as  to  defy  description.  If  we 
take  only  the  law  of  gravitation,  w^e  find  that  to  secure  them 
from  the  dangers  of  its  infraction,  "  the  goat,  which  browses 
on  the  edge  of  precipices,  has  received  a  hoof  and  legs  that 
give  precision  and  firmness  to  its  steps  ;  the  bird,  destined  to 
sleep  on  the  branches  of  trees,  is  provided  with  a  muscle  in 
the  leg  and  foot  which  makes  it  cling  the  faster  the  greater  its 
liability  to  fall ;  the  fly,  which  walks  and  sleeps  on  perpen- 
dicular walls,  and  the  ceihngs  of  rooms,  has  a  hollow  in  its  foot, 
from  which  it  expels  the  air,  and  the  pressure  of  the  atmos- 
phere on  the  outside  of  the  foot  holds  it  fast  to  the  object  on 
which  the  inside  is  placed ;  the  same  is  true  of  some  kinds  of 
lizards ;  the  walrus  is  provided  with  a  similar  apparatus  for 
climbing  up  the  sides  of  icebergs  ;  and  the  broad  and  S}>read- 
ing  hoof  of  the  camel  fits  it  for  the  loose  and  sandy  soil  of  the 
torrid  desert."  And  still  more  does  the  benevolence  of  this 
arrangement  appear,  when  we  remember,  that  each  modifica- 
tion of  a  part  of  the  animal  requires  the  co-adjustment  of  the 
entire  structure. 

BuiFon  and  others,  indeed,  have  expressed  commiseration 
for  some  species,  especially  for  the  tardigrade  family,  as  if  they 
were  the  victims  of  a  defective  organization,  because  their  mo- 
tions, as  compared  ivith  our  oivn,  are  so  remarkably  slow.  But 
our  sensations  are  not  the  standard  by  which  to  estimate  their 
condition.  The  rapidity  of  our  motions  Avould  be  death  to  the 
sloth.     He  is  made  for  his  condition  ;  nor  does  he  less  find  se- 


250  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

ciiritj  and  subsistence  in  it,  than  the  lion  ranging  the  plain,  or 
the  eagle  sweeping  the  horizon  of  a  continent. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  diversity  of  ways  by  which  the 
Creator  adjusts  the  habits  of  the  animal  to  its  external  condi- 
tion, "  let  us  imagine  a  noble  forest  tree,  in  whose  luxuriant 
foliage  the  birds  of  the  air  find  shelter,  and  whose  leaves  sup- 
ply food  to  hosts  of  insects.  In  this  respect,  the  tree  may  be 
considered  a  world  in  itself,  filled  with  different  tribes  of  in- 
habitants, differing,  not  only  in  their  aspect,  but  even  in  the 
stations  or  countries  they  inhabit,  and  assimilating  as  little  to- 
gether as  the  inhabitants  of  Tartary  do  with  those  of  England. 
.  .  .  Some  of  the  insects,  as  caterpillars,  feed  upon  the  leaves ; 
others  upon  the  flowers ;  a  few  will  eat  nothing  but  the  bark  ; 
w^hile  many  derive  their  nourishment  from  the  internal  sub- 
stance of  the  trunk.  ...  If  we  examine  further,  ne^v  modifi- 
cations of  habits  are  discovered.  Those  insects,  for  instance, 
which  feed  upon  leaves,  do  not  all  feed  in  the  same  manner, 
or  upon  the  same  parts :  a  few  devour  only  the  bud ;  others 
spin  the  terminal  leaves  together,  forming  them  into  a  sort  of 
hut,  under  cover  of  which  they  regale  at  leisure,  upon  the  ten- 
derest  parts  ;  some,  apparently,  even  more  cautious,  construct 
little  compact  cases,  which  cover  their  body,  and  make  them 
ai^pear  like  bits  of  stick,  or  the  ends  of  broken  twigs ;  some 
eat  the  outside  of  the  leaf  only  —  like  the  caterpillars  of  New 
Holland,  mentioned  by  Lewin  —  bore  themselves  holes  in  the 
stem,  into  which  they  carry  a  few  leaves  ;  sally  out  during  the 
night  for  a  fresh  supply,  and  feed  upon  them  at  their  leisure 
during  the  day.  It  seems,  in  fact,  impossible  to  conceive 
greater  modifications  than  are  actually  met  with,  even  among 
insects  which  feed  only  upon  leaves  ;  while  otlier  variations 
are  equally  numerous  in  such  tribes  as  live  upon  other  por- 
tions of  the  tree.  .  .  .  Let  us  now  look  to  those  tribes  of  the 
feathered  creation  which  would  frequent  this  same  tree  for  the 
purpose  of  seeking  food.  The  woodpeckers  begin  by  ascend- 
ing the  main  trunk ;  they  traverse  in  a  spiral  direction,  and 
diligently  examine  the  bark  as  they  ascend ;  wdierever  they 
discern  the  least  external  indication  of  that  decay  produced 
by  the  perforating  insects,  they  commence  a  vigorous  attack : 
with  repeated  sti-okes  of  their  powerful  wedge-shaped  bill,  they 
soon  break  away  the  shelter  of  the  internal  destroyer,  who  is 
either  dragged  from  liis  hole  at  once,  or  speared  by  the  barbed 
tongue  of  his  powerful  enemy.  Next  come  the  creepers  and 
the  nuthatches  :  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  tribes  of  in- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  251 

sects  just  mentioned  ;  their  food  is  confined  to  the  more  expos- 
ed inhabitants  of  the  bark,  the  crevices  of  which  they  examine 
with  the  same  assiduity,  and  traverse  in  the  same  tortuous 
course,  as  do  the  woodj^eckers :  the  one  taking  what  the  other 
leaves.  In  temperate  regions,  like  Europe,  few  insects  are 
found  on  the  horizontal  branches  of  trees  ;  and  this  seems  the 
true  reason  why  we  have  no  scansorial  birds  which  frequent 
such  situations  ;  but  in  tropical  countries  the  case  is  different ; 
and  we  there  find  the  whole  family  of  cuckows  exploring  such 
branches,  and  such  only.  Finally,  the  extreme  ramifications, 
never  visited  by  any  of  the  foregoing  birds,  are  assigned  —  in 
this  country  at  least — to  the  different  species  of  titmice,  whose 
diminutive  size  and  facility  of  clinging  are  so  well  suited  for 
such  situations."! 

9.  K  the  well-being  of  the  animal  depend  on  its  conformity 
with  the  laws  of  its  constitution,  the  benevolence  of  the  Crea- 
tor would  be  further  displayed  by  associating  that  conformity 
with  sensations  of  pleasure.  And  it  is  so.  The  legitimate 
exercise  of  every  sense  is  accompanied  with  pleasure.  Ac- 
tivity itself  yields  gratification.  But  activity  so  operates  as  to 
render  rest  peculiarly  delicious.  The  voluptuousness  of  re- 
pose again  is  succeeded  by  a  desire  for  exertion,  while  every 
appetite,  properly  indulged,  yields  a  measure  of  enjoyment. 
And  thus  "  nature  resembles  the  law-giver,  who,  to  make  his 
subjects  obey,  should  prefer  holding  out  rewards  for  compli- 
ance with  his  commands,  ratiier  than  denounce  punishments 
for  disobedience."  2 

10.  But  as  the  constant  activity  of  the  vital  functions  is  es- 
sential to  life,  would  not  the  Divine  benevolence  be  shown  in 
withdrawing  their  operation  from  the  contingencies  of  animal 
volition,  and  in  rendering  it  involuntary  and  independent  ?  It 
is  so.  "  For  the  continuance  of  life  a  thousand  provisions  are 
made.  If  the  vital  actions  of  an.  animal's  frame  were  directed 
by  its  volition,  tliey  are  necessarily  so  minute  and  complicated, 
that  they  would  immediately  fall  into  confusion.  It  cannot 
draw  a  breath,  without  the  exercise  of  sensibilities  as  well  or- 
dered as  those  of  the  eye  or  ear.  A  tracing  of  nervous  cords 
unites  many  organs  in  sympathy ;  and  if  any  one  filament  of 
these  were  broken,  pain,  and  spasm,  and  suffocation,  would  en- 
sue.    The  action  of  its  heart,  and  the  circulation  of  its  blood, 

*  Swainson's  Discourse  on  Nat.  History,  p.  175. 

'  Lord  Brougham's  Illustrations  of  Palcy's  Theok)<;y,  vol.  ii.  p.  65. 


252  THE   PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

nnd  all  the  vital  functions,  are  governed  through  means  and 
by  laws  which  are  not  dependent  on  its  volition,  and  to  which 
its  mental  powers  are  "altogether  inadequate.  For  had  they 
been  under  the  intiuence  of  its  volition,  a  doubt,  a  moment's 
pause  of  irresolution,  a  neglect  of  a  single  action  at  its  appoint- 
ed time,  would  have  terminated  its  existence."^ 

11.  Still,  as  neither  of  these  arrangements  will  secure  for 
the  animal  entire  exemption  from  danger,  would  not  Benevo- 
lence be  as  apparent  in  guarding  the  animal  against  the  evil 
by  a  warning  pain,  as  in  rewarding  its  obedience  hj  pleasure  ? 
Now,  such  an  arrangement  does  exist.  The  senses  have  been 
called  sentinels  placed  at  the  outposts  of  life,  to  give  timely 
warning  of  approaching  danger.  Every  sense  has  its  own 
sphere  of  perception,  ranging  circle  beyond  circle.  Every 
appetite,  if  denied  the  gratification  necessary  to  animal  well- 
being,  becomes  uneasy  and  importunate.  While  the  skin,  drawn 
over  the  entire  surface  of  the  body,  becomes  a  robe  of  sensi- 
bility and  protection  to  all  the  parts  within. 

This  view  affords  the  appropriate  reply  to  the  inconsiderate 
inquiry,  "  why  is  there  pain  at  all  ?  or,  why  is  not  every  action 
performed  at  the  suggestion  of  pleasure  ?  "  For,  not  only  is 
pain  the  necessary  alternative  to  pleasure,  but,  if  pleasure 
were  to  precede  the  act  of  obedience,  as  well  as  to  attend,  and 
to  follow  it,  where  would  be  the  inducement  to  activity  ?  If 
the  animal,  while  in  danger  of  famishing,  be  happy,  M^hat  in- 
ducement would  it  have  to  arise  and  eat  ?  But,  according  to 
the  existing  arrangement,  it  is  aroused  to  the  necessary  activity 
by  a  twofold  stimulus  —  insipient  hunger  inciting  it  from  with- 
in, and  the  desire  of  gratification  in  prospect. 

Besides  which,  it  is  often  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
notices  of  the  presence  of  objects  should  be  transmitted  instant- 
ly to  the  brain ;  for  the  slightest  delay  would  be  attended  with 
serious  evil,  and  might  even  lead  to  fatal  consequences.  "  Could 
the  windpipe  and  the  interior  of  the  lungs  be  protected  by  a 
pleasurable  sensation,  inducing  a  slow  determination  of  the 
will  —  so  well  as  by  that  rapid  and  powerful  influence  which 
the  exquisite  sensibility  of  the  throat  produces  upon  the  act 
of  respiration,  or  by  those  forcible  yet  regulated  exertions 
which  nothing  but  the  instinctive  apprehension  of  death  can 
excite  ?  " 

*  Very  slightly  altered,  for  the  sake  of  adaptation,  fr,oin  Sir  C.  Bell's 
Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  13. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  253 

12.  But  while  the  benevolence  of  the  Creator  is  thus  appa- 
rent in  employing  pain  as  a  safeguard  against  danger,  most 
remarkably  is  it  displayed  in  the  manifold  contrivances  adopt- 
ed for  economizing  suffering.  We  have  seen  this  illustrated 
in  the  graduated  scale  of  sensibility,  and  the  other  alleviating 
arrangements,  included  in  the  system  of  prey.  When  death 
is  the  result  of  age,  the  power  of  feeling  gradually  ceases,  and 
the  last  moments  of  departing  life  assume  the  tranquillity  of 
approaching  sleep.  In  the  case  of  an  injury  short  of  death, 
the  vis  medicatrix  is  called  into  activity,  or  a  power  tending  to 
remedy  the  evil.  This  is  seen  in  the  tear  which  flows  to  wash 
the  irritating  particle  from  the  eye  ;  and  in  the  new  bone  and 
new  flesh  produced  to  make  the  parts  severed  by  accident  knit 
again  and  heal. 

The  vast  majority  of  sensations  intended  to  guard  against 
evil,  are  unattended  with  pain.  And  even  of  those  which  may 
become  painful  if  prolonged,  many,  at  first,  are  merely  calcu- 
lated to  excite  attention :  such  is  the  insipient  sensation  of 
hunger. 

The  sense  of  danger  is  generally  timed  and  proportioned 
according  to  the  urgency  of  the  case.  Were  the  sensations 
always  equally  distressing,  the  animal  would  suffer  unnecessa- 
rily ;  for  the  great  majority  of  its  dangers  are  trivial.  Were 
they  always  equally  slight,  the  animal  would  soon  be  destroy- 
ed ;  for  some  of  its  dangers  require  a  sudden  and  strenuous 
effort,  which  it  would  not  have  a  sufficient  inducement  to  make. 
"  It  is  provided  that  the  more  an  organ  is  exposed,  or  the 
greater  is  its  delicacy  of  organization,  the  more  exquisitely 
contrived  is  the  apparatus  for  its  protection,  and  the  more  per- 
emptory the  call  for  the  activity  of  that  mechanism :  and  as, 
in  such  instances,  the  motive  to  action  admits  of  no  thought 
and  no  hesitation,  the  action  is  more  instantaneous  than  the 
quickest  suggestion  or  impulse  of  the  will."i  "  The  velocity 
with  which  the  nerves  subservient  to  sensation  transmit  the 
impressions  they  receive  at  one  extremity,  along  their  whole 
course,  to  their  termination  in  the  brain,  exceeds  all  measure- 
ment, and  can  be  compared  only  to  that  of  electricity  passing 
along  a  conducting  Avire.  These  nerves  may,  in  fact,  be  re- 
garded as  constituting  a  system  of  electric  telegraphs,  estab- 
lished by  nature  as  the  general  medium  of  instantaneous  trans- 

'  Sir  C.  Bell's  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  202. 
22 


254  THE   PRE-ADASnTE    EARTH. 

missions  of  sensorial  agencies  between  all,  and  even  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  body."^ 

Every  perception  of  a  different  kind  of  danger  has  its  own 
distinct  sensation.  This  is  essential,  in  order  that  the  kind  of 
effort  to  be  made  may  answer  to  the  nature  of  the  evil  to  be 
avoided.  For  if  the  sensation  arising  from  intense  heat  Avere 
the  same  as  that  occasioned  by  intense  cold,  the  danger  might 
be  increased  in  the  very  attempt  to  escape  from  it.  But  by 
thus  varying  the  sensation  with  the  danger,  an  important  end 
is  gained  in  the  diminution  of  pain ;  for  the  same  painful  sen- 
sation, however  trifling  at  first,  becomes  by  repetition  or  con- 
tinuance intolerable. 

But  that  which  strikingly  illustrates  the  Divine  benevolence 
here  is,  the  law  that  each  part  of  the  body  should  be  endowed 
with  a  susceptibility  to  pain  from  those  impressions  only  which 
tend  to  injure  its  structure  ;  while  it  is  comparatively  insensible 
to  every  injury  to  which  it  is  not  likely  to  be  exposed.  "  The 
extreme  sensibility  of  the  skin  to  the  slightest  injury,  conveys 
to  every  one,"  says  Sir  C.  Bell,  "  the  notion  that  the  deeper 
the  wound  the  more  severe  must  the  pain  be.  This  is  not  the 
fact;  nor  would  it  accord  with  the  beneficent  design  which 
shines  out  everywhere.  The  sensibility  of  the  skin  serves  not 
only  to  give  the  sense  of  touch,  but  to  be  a  guard  upon  the 
deeper  parts  ;  and  they  cannot  be  reached  except  through  the 
skin,  and  pain  must  be  suffered  therefore  before  they  can  be. 
injured,  it  would  be  superfluous  to  bestow  such  sensibility  upon 
these  deeper  parts  themselves.  If  the  internal  parts,  which 
act  in  the  motions  of  the  body,  had  possessed  a  similar  degree 
and  kind  of  sensibility  with  the  skin,  so  far  from  serving  any 
useful  purpose,  it  would  have  been  a  source  of  inconvenience 
and  continual  pain,  in  the  common  exercise  of  the  frame."  On 
the  same  principle  it  is  that  the  nerve  of  touch  is  insensible  to 
excess  of  light ;  the  nerve  of  vision  is  insensible  to  touch  ;  and 
so  are  also  those  important  organs,  the  brain  and  the  heart ; 
for  had  they  possessed  such  sensibility,  it  would  have  been 
useless  as  a  protection,  since  no  external  injuries  could  reach 
them  without  a  previous  warning  having  been  received  through 
the  sensibility  of  the  skin. 

What,  then,  is  the  kind  of  sensibility  with  which  these  va- 
rious parts  are  endowed  ?  In  every  case  it  is  different,  for  it 
is  appropriate  to  the  function  of  every  part.     The  eye  may  be 

*  Roget's  Bridgewatcr  Treatise,  vol.  ii.  p.  330. 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  255 

rudely  fingured  without  inflicting  pain ;  for  the  optic  nerve  is 
sensitive  only  to  excess  of  light  —  its  nerve  of  touch  is  distinct. 
The  heart  may  be  handled  without  feeling  it ;  but,  as  the  great 
circulatory  organ,  it  is  in  the  closest  sympathy  with  all  the 
vital  powers,  and  keenly  alive  to  their  slightest  variations. 
The  brain  is  as  insensible  to  touch  "  as  the  sole  of  our  shoe  ; " 
but  let  it  be  diseased,  and  consciousness  departs.  The  bones 
may  be  exposed  and  cut  with  impunity ;  but  the  application 
of  a  force  which  tends  to  fracture  them  will  cause  exquisite 
pain.  The  tendons  and  ligaments  which  cover  them  maj' 
lie  exposed,  and  cut,  pricked,  or  even  burned,  without  the 
animal  suffering  the  slightest  pain ;  but  let  them  be  violently 
stretched,  and  the  warning  pain  is  instantly  felt.  Now  by  this 
benevolent  arrangement  pain  is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  The 
sensibility  of  each  part  varies  with  the  function  of  the  part ; 
is  limited  to  the  peculiar  liabilities  of  that  part ;  and  is  occu- 
pied in  its  protection. 

13.  But  do  not  these  facts  intimate  the  great  truth  that  a 
nerve  is  not  necessarily  sensible,  but  only  by  the  Divine  ap- 
pointment ?  We  have  already  seen  that  no  organization,  no 
mechanical  hypothesis,  no  chemical  process,  will  suffice  to  ac- 
count for  life.  And  here  we  are  brought  to  the  analogous  con- 
clusion, that  the  sensibilities  of  the  living  frame  are  not  quali- 
ties necessarily  arising  from  life  ;  that  still  less  are  they  the 
consequences  of  delicacy  of  texture ;  but  that  they  are  endow- 
ments appropriate  to  their  assigned  and  respective  offices.  For 
not  only  have  the  different  parts  of  the  nervous  system  totally 
distinct  endowments,  there  are  nerves,  as  we  have  remarked, 
"  insensible  to  touch  and  incapable  of  giving  pain,  though  ex- 
quisitely alive  to  their  proper  office ;"  and  thus  showing  that, 
in  each  instance,  that  office  is  a  special  provision  for  a  definite 
purpose  —  the  benevolent  purpose  of  animal  enjoyment. 

"We  here  perceive  design,  because  we  trace  adaptation. 
But  we,  at  the  same  time,  trace  Benevolent  design,  because  we 
perceive  gratuitous  and  supererogatory  enjoyment  bestowed. 
See  the  care  with  which  animals  of  all  kinds  are  attended 
from  their  birth.  The  mother's  instinct  is  not  more  certainly 
the  means  of  securing  and  providing  for  her  young,  than  her 
gratification  in  the  act  of  maternal  care  is  great,  and  is  also 
needless  for  making  her  perform  that  duty.  The  grove  is  not 
made  vocal  during  pairing  and  incubation,  in  order  to  secui-e 
the  laying  or  the  hatching  of  eggs ;  for  if  it  were  still  as  the 
grave,  or  were  filled  with  the  most  discordant  croaking,  the 


256  THE   PRE-AD AMITE   EARTH. 

process  would  be  as  well  performed.  But  thus  it  is  that  nature 
adds  more  gratification  than  is  necessary  to  induce  the  creature 
to  obey  her  calls." 

14.  And  when  the  complicated  and  minute  provision  neces- 
sary for  this  enjoyment  is  considered,  the  benevolence  of  the 
Creator  is  still  further  conspicuous.  The  mathematical  struc- 
ture of  the  eye  alone,  on  which  the  pleasures  of  sight  depend, 
and  its  exquisite  adaptation  to  the  physical  laws  of  light,  might 
well  fill  us  with  astonishment  at  the  goodness  of  God.  But 
this  is  only  one  of  numberless  arrangements  having  the  same 
kind  tendency ;  and  when  we  remember  that  all  these  are  parts 
of  a  prospective  plan  contemplated  before  the  birth  of  the  ani- 
mal ;  that  the  foundation  of  the  whole  is  laid  in  the  germ  of 
which  its  after  life  is  only  the  development;  that  maternal 
care  awaited  its  coming;  that  the  season  of  its  birth  is  adjust- 
ed to  the  season  of  the  year,  and  to  the  period  of  the  food, 
most  conducive  to  its  well-being,  our  conviction  of  the  goodness 
of  God  is  still  more  increased.  Nor  can  we  thoughtfully  pause 
at  any  moment,  and  try  to  bring  before  our  minds  all  the  ful- 
ness of  animal  life  the  world  contains,  and  the  infinitely  varied 
sounds,  and  motions,  and  signs  of  enjoyment  which  it  exhibits, 
without  saying  with  Paley,  "  it  is  a  happy  world  after  all ;" 
nor  recollect  that  every  sense,  of  every  animal,  of  every  herd, 
and  shoal,  and  swarm,  and  flock,  which  throng  creation,  is  a 
gift  of  Sovereign  goodness  —  a  channel  in  which  the  Divine 
benevolence  may  pour  forth  a  stream  of  enjoyment,  and  be- 
hold the  reflection  of  its  image,  without  gratefully  exclaiming, 
"  How  great  is  His  goodness !"  And  this  we  conceive  to  be 
pre-eminently  the  design  of  the  animal  creation  —  the  mani- 
festation of  the  Divine  benevolence. 

15.  But  if  the  animal  possess  not  the  power  of  apprehend- 
ing the  great  End  of  its  creation,  it  may  be  expected  to  act 
from  an  instinctive  regard  to  that  end  which  is  relative  to  the 
great  End,  namely,  its  own  happiness.  And,  as  it  can  answer 
the  end  of  its  creation  only  by,  and  as  long  as  it  retains,  its 
relative  perfection,  we  may  expect  that  a  strong  desire  will  be 
implanted  in  its  nature,  and  form  a  part  of  it,  to  maintain  its 
well-being.  Accordingly,  life,  enjoyment,  and  offspring,  form 
the  objects  of  all  the  animal  instincts.  From  its  own  kind,  it 
derives  higher  happiness  than  from  any  other  objects  in  crea- 
tion.    In  obeying  the  highest  and  most  important  instinct  of 

Lord  Brougham's  Illustrations,  &c.  vol.  ii.  p.  66. 


SENTIENT   EXISTENCE.  257 

its  nature,  it  derives  the  highest  pleasure.  And  in  the  posses- 
sion of  offspring,  the  resources  and  enjoyments  of  two  distinct 
beings  are,  in  a  sense,  imparted  to  each.  Even  the  manner 
in  which,  in  the  higher  classes  of  animals,  nutriment  has  been 
provided  for  the  helpless  young,  evinces  the  kindest  consider- 
tion ;  for,  besides  that  the  nourishment  itself  is  "  the  most 
perfect  type  of  food  in  general  that  it  is  possible  to  give,"  the 
way  in  which  it  is  imparted  is  a  source  of  tranquil  enjoyment 
both  to  the  giver  and  the  receiver.  Indeed,  the  entire  arrange- 
ment by  which  the  multiplication  and  perpetuation  of  animal 
life  is  secured,  appears  to  carry  animal  enjoyment  to  the  high- 
est point. 

16.  But  does  this  great  theatre  of  animal  enjoyment  de- 
monstrate the  absolute  infinity  of  the  Divine  goodness  ?  Our 
reply  is  similar  to  that  which  we  have  returned  to  the  same 
question  in  relation  to  the  displays  of  Divine  power  and  wis- 
dom. If  it  were  a  proof  of  goodness,  metaphysically  infinite, 
all  the  illustrations  of  benevolence  subsequently  exhibited  in 
the  history  of  man,  and  which  may  be  hereafter  displayed  in 
the  progress  of  the  universe,  would,  as  further  evidence,  be 
superfluous  or  extra-infinite.  Analogous  remarks  were  made 
in  the  preceding  Parts,  relative  to  the  power  and  wisdom  of 
God ;  and  from  the  advanced  point  which  we  have  now  reach- 
ed, we  can  see  how  erroneous  it  w^ould  have  been  to  treat  the 
proof  as  already  completed,  or  to  limit  our  views  of  those 
Divine  perfections  by  the  evidence  then  before  us ;  inasmuch 
as  that  evidence  is  still  in  process  of  augmentation.  And  in 
a  similar  manner,  the  illustrations  of  Goodness  are  constantly 
receiving  fresh  accessions.  To  which  it  is  to  be  added,  that 
even  if  the  objective  exercise  of  the  Divine  goodness  were 
literally  infinite,  it  would  be  utterly  useless  for  all  the  pur- 
poses of  manifestation,  since  its  infinity  would  remain  unknown 
to  us ;  except,  indeed,  on  Divine  testimony.  But  how  should 
we  know  that  testimony  to  be  true,  except  on  infinite  evidence  ? 
and  so  on,  ad  infinitum.  If  we  utter  any  complaint  at  all, 
then,  relative  to  the  limitation  of  our  knowledge  of  the  Divine 
perfections,  we  should  begin  with  the  complaint  that  our  minds 
are  limited  ;  which  would  be  to  complain  in  effect,  that  they 
are  created,  and  not  uncreated.  Even  as  it  is,  the  actual  il- 
lustrations of  the  goodness  of  God  exceed  our  conceptions  ; 
and  yet,  indefinite  as  they  are,  they  go  on  multiplying  at  a 
rate  which  defies  all  human  computation. 

17.  The  only  way,  then,  in  which  an  infinite  proof  of  infinite 
22* 


258  THE    PRE-ADAMITE   EARTH. 

goodness  can  be  presented  to  finite  creatures,  or  be  received 
by  them,  is  by  a  progressive  accumulation  through  endless 
duration ;  so  that  it  must  be  always  in  the  course  of  exhibi- 
tion. It  is  easy  to  conceive,  however,  of  such  a  display  of 
benevolence  witliin  a  space  and  a  time  not  unlimited,  as  should 
furnish  free  agents,  capable  of  reasoning  from  analogy,  wath 
ample  evidence  of  benevolence  unlimited.  And  such  a  dis- 
play of  goodness  we  believe  to  have  been  made  in  the  animal 
creation.  Now,  in  attempting  to  show  this,  it  is  to  be  borne 
in  mind,  as  a  fact  universally  admitted,  that  the  limitations  of 
matter  in  relation  to  space,  are  necessitated  by  the  nature  of 
matter  itself;  and  therefore,  the  limitations  of  the  uses  made 
of  it  also.  If,  then,  the  material  medium  through  which  bene- 
volence is  to  be  displayed  is  itself  inherently  conditioned  by 
limits,  we  have  to  determine  what  evidence  of  goodness,  exhib- 
ited under  such  circumstances,  we,  as  beings  constituted  to 
reason  by  inference,  and  from  analogy,  should  be  justified  in 
deeming  an  adequate  illustration  of  goodness  unlimited  —  of 
the  kind  of  goodness,  that  is,  which  is  displayed  in  sentient 
enjoyment.  Displays  of  other  kinds  are,  hypothetically,  yet 
in  store. 

18.  Now,  ^ve  can  conceive  of  intelligences  so  superior  to 
ourselves  as  to  be  able  to  recognise  in  the  first  forms  of  sen- 
tient life  that  appeared  on  our  earth,  an  adequate  proof  of  the 
unlimited  goodness  of  the  Creator.  Their  view  of  cause  and 
effect  might  be  such  as  to  enable  them  to  say  definitively,  and 
at  once,  "  the  Being  that  could  originate  these  forms  of  happi- 
ness, must  be  distinguished  by  infinite  goodness."  For,  be  it 
remembered,  that  the  full  understanding  of  these  primitive 
forms  would  include  also  the  full  understanding  of  the  inor- 
ganic and  vegetable  worlds ;  and  would  evince  that  the  pro 
duction  of  these  sentient  beings  had  always  been  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  creative  mind.  But  these  primeval  creatures 
were  actually  accompanied  or  followed  by  a  world  of  animal 
existences.  True,  those  early  creations  were  not  probably  so 
diversified  in  their  species  as  the  later  creations  ;  but  geology 
shows  that,  at  a  very  early  period,  the  sea-covered  earth  swarm- 
ed with  individual  life.  It  would  have  been  useless  for  man, 
had  he  then  lived,  to  attempt  the  individual  enumerations  of 
beings  contained  in  even  a  section  of  "  the  great  and  wide 
sea ;"  and  yet  every  being  was  a  distinct  argument  for  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator,  since  every  one  of  them  all  was  com- 
prehended in  his  Divine  plan.     Now  surely  a  human  spectu- 


SEKTiKNT  existi:nci-:.  2^9 

tor  of  tliat  scene  could  not  liave  expended  years  and  ages  in 
the  contemplation  of  animal  enjoyment,  especially  as  viewed 
in  connection  with  the  complicated  provision  made  for  it  from 
the  beginning,  and  with  the  endlessly  diversified  manner  in 
which  all  nature  ministered  to  it,  without  receiving  an  over- 
whelming impression  of  Creative  benevolence.  Long  before 
he  could  have  fully  estimated  the  proofs  of  benevolence  teem- 
ing around  him,  a  new  creation  would  dawn,  and  a  new  world 
of  animate  wonders  come  into  view ;  and  as  he  gradually  dis- 
covered that  phenomena  -which  at  first  appeared  at  variance 
with  goodness,  only  required  to  be  understood  in  order  to  be- 
come remarkable  illustrations  of  it ;  that  v^^here  a  liability  (o 
l)ain  existed,  the  most  refined  and  complicated  means  are  re- 
sorted to  for  reducing  it  to  the  smallest  amount  possible,  or  ibi- 
p;roviding  against  it  altogether ;  and  that  even  the  system  of 
prey  is  resolvable  into  the  greatest  amount  of  animal  enjoy- 
ment compatible  with  the  existing  plan  of  creation,  he  could 
not  but  feel  that  the  benevolence  to  which  all  this  was  owing, 
must  be  literally  past  finding  out.  Let  him  revisit  the  earth 
in  imagination  time  after  time,  with  intervals  of  ages  betv/een 
each  visit :  sui-ely  he  could  not  remark  that  every  change  of 
external  condition  was  associated  with  a  corresponding  change 
in  animal  organization  ;  that  these  changes  were  diversified  to 
a  degree  designed  apparently  to  impress  him  with  their  inex- 
haustibleness  ;  that  the  systems  of  life  and  enjoyment  were 
ever  on  the  increase,  and  that  the  analogy  of  every  part  with 
idl  the  rest  showed  the  wiiole  to  be  in  accordance  with  a  plan 
Avhich  must  have  ever  existed  in  the  Divine  mind,  without 
being  impelled  to  the  conclusion  that  for  such  displays  of 
goodness  to  an  indefinite  extent,  God  is  all-sufficient.  And, 
beyond  this,  he  should  remark  that  the  amount  of  actual  life 
exhibited  at  any  given  time  on  the  earth,  is  as  nothing  com- 
pared with  the  amount  of  potential  life  and  happiness  which  it 
contains.  The  vegetable  seeds  germinating  at  this  moment 
on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  are,  probably,  insignificant  com- 
pared with  the  number  concealed  below  to  an  unknown  depth  ; 
and  who  shall  calculate  tlie  superficial  extent  of  the  world,  or 
Vv'orlds,  which  those  seeds  v/ould  be  sufficient  speedily  to  clothe 
with  verdure?  And  so  also  of  the  ova  of  some  animal  spe- 
cies, such  as  the  carp,  the  cod,  or  the  fiounder,  in  an  individual 
of  which  more  than  a  million  have  been  counted,  —  who  shall 
say  the  number  of  Atlantics  which  either  of  these  species 
would  fill  in  the  course  of  a  thousand  years,  if  all  their  ova 


260  THE    PllE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

were  allowed  to  be  developed ;  or  how  many  atmospheres,  of 
the  same  extent  as  that  of  our  planet,  would,  in  the  same  time, 
become  crowded  and  darkened,  hy  the  unchecked  multiplica- 
tion of  so  minute  a  thing  as  a  fly  ?  Nov/  he  could  not  survey 
the  recovered  fossil  species  of  former  worlds,  remembering 
that  all  traces  of  many  species  have  probably  vanished ;  and 
then  glance  at  the  five  hundred  thousand  species  now  living, 
remembering  that  the  actual  multiplication  of  some  of  them, 
prodigious  as  it  is,  is  as  nothing  compared  with  their  possible 
increase  ;  and  that  this  has  been  always  true  from  the  begin- 
ning, without  yielding  to  the  full  impression,  that,  subjective- 
ly, the  Creative  goodness  can  knov/  no  limitation ;  and  that, 
objectively,  He  is  all-sufficient  for  replenishing  alike  a  single 
planet,  or  ten  thousand  worlds,  with  sentient  happiness,  and 
ibr  sustaining  the  whole  for  an  age,  or  for  ever.  This  v.e 
believe  to  be  the  impression  which  a  world  of  sentient  enjoy- 
ment was  intended  to  produce  on  the  mind  of  man.  That  it 
is  adapted  to  produce  this  very  effect  is  evident,  for  it  actually 
produces  it.  And  the  very  manner  in  wliich  this  end  is  at- 
tained —  the  mental  effort  which  it  demands,  and  the  apparent 
moral  difficulties  v>diicli  it  involves  —  still  farther  evinces  the 
far-reaching  purpose  of  the  Creator,  in  making  it  the  means 
of  man's  intellectual  and  moral  education.  But  man,  "  the 
interpreter  of  nature,"  is  yet  to  come. 


10.  Now,  suppose  a  being  capable  of  appreciating  the  suc- 
cessive stages  of  creation  as  we  have  endeavored  to  describe 
it,  to  have  taken  a  survey  of  the  whole  on  the  eve  of  that 
great  revolution  which  gave  occasion  to  the  Adamic  creation, 
what  an  enlarged  view  must  it  have  afforded  him  of  the  power, 
and  wisdom,  and  g.)odness  of  God !  Could  he  have  cast  bacls. 
a  mental  glance  to  the  remote  antiquity  when  the  first  creiitive 
fiat  went  forth,  and  then  have  called  before  his  mind  all  the 
long  series  of  creation  on  creation  with  extended  intervals  be- 
tween, which  had  since  then  taken  place,  —  could  he  have 
remembered  how  many  vegetable  kingdoms  had  succc>-ively 
existed  and  perished,  only  to  be  followed  by  others  better 
adapted  to  the  altered  globe ;  and  how  every  such  change  had 
been  followed  by  a  corresponding  adaptation  in  all  the  indefi- 
nite varieties  of  animal  life,  so  that  tlie  earth  had  been  ke})t 
"  full  of  His  goodness,"  without  feeling,  with  a  depth  of  coa- 
viciioa  no  language  can  express,  and  long  b-jibre  he  had  ar- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  261 

rived  at  the  close  of  his  retrospection,  the  all-sufficiency  of 
God  for  the  indefinite  enlargement  and  continuance  of  similar 
manifestations !  He  would  have  seen  that,  here,  every  object 
and  event  formed  at  least  a  letter  in  the  great  name  of  God — 
a  symbol  of  the  Divine  perfections.  Even  if  the  creative 
process  had  been  arrested  at  this  point,  never  to  be  resumed, 
he  would  yet  have  felt  that  he  was  worshipping  in  a  temple 
dedicated  to  "  the  eternal  power  and  Godhead  ;"  for  the  she- 
kinah  of  the  Divine  presence  was  everywhere  visible.  But 
that  temple  had  ever  been  enlarging  and  receiving  fresh  me- 
morials of  the  Deity ;  and  long  before  he  had  deciphered  every 
symbol,  and  bowed  at  every  altar  sacred  to  these  perfections, 
he  would  have  felt  prepared  for  the  unveiling  of  another  aspect 
of  the  Divine  character. 

20.  Could  he  then  have  had  disclosed  to  him  the  nature  of 
man's  constitution,  —  physical,  mental,  and  moral,  —  the  crea- 
tion would  forthwith  have  seemed  to  assume  a  new  character. 
He  would  have  seen  that  man  was  not  to  be  made  for  the 
world,  but  that  the  world  from  the  first  had  been  made  for 
man ;  that  all  its  laws  were  mute  predictions  of  what  he  would 
be;  that  all  nature  was  pre-configured  to  him,  and  looked 
forwards  to  his  coming.  The  earth,  then,  he  might  have  said, 
is  to  be  a  school  for  the  education  of  the  humcin  being.  What 
a  severe  and  useful  discipline  will  it  be  for  him,  if  left  to  his 
own  unaided  efforts,  to  determine  the  point  from  which  his 
physical  studies  should  start,  the  method  they  should  observe, 
and  the  direction  they  should  take.  When  the  time  shall 
come  for  him  to  try  to  ascertain  the  position  of  his  planet  in 
the  system  to  which  it  belongs,  and  the  disposition  of  the  parts 
of  that  system,  what  prolonged  and  improving  efforts  is  it  like- 
ly to  call  forth  ?  for  he  will  see  it  "  not  in  plan  but  in  section ;" 
his  point  of  observation  will  lie  in  the  general  plane  of  the 
system,  while  the  notion  he  will  aim  to  form  of  it  will  be,  not 
that  of  its  section,  but  of  its  plan ;  as  if  he  should  attempt  to 
make  out  the  countries  on  a  map,  with  his  eye  on  a  level  with 
the  map.i  Even  the  size  and  physical  geography  of  the  planet 
itself  are  relative  to  the  powers  of  the  being  destined  to  oc- 
cupy it ;  for,  while  it  is  not  so  diminutive  and  unvaried  as  to 
promise  no  reward  to  curiosity  and  effort,  neither  is  it  so  vast 
and  unmanageable  as  to  depress  and  forbid  them.  For  him, 
the  Creator  has  "  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales  and  the 

»  Sh-  J.  Herschcl's  Nat.  Phil.,  p.  2G7. 


262  THE    PRE-ADAMITE    EARTH. 

hills  in  a  balance."  Here,  objects  are  so  formed  as  to  call 
liim  to  activity,  and  to  give  him  lessons  in  self-government ; 
and  secrets  so  hid  in  the  depths  of  nature  as  to  invite  his  dis- 
covery, and  to  correct  his  pre-judgments ;  and  events  so  inti- 
mately and  universally  related,  as  to  reveal  to  his  attentive 
eye  the  fact,  that  all  nature  is  united  in  a  close  net-work  of 
mutual  connections  and  dependence.  Here,  advancing  from 
the  domain  of  facts,  he  will  ascend  to  the  region  of  laAvs.  His 
discovery  and  generahzation  of  these  will  constitute  his  natu- 
ral science,  his  practical  application  of  them  will  be  his  art  and 
occupation.  From  this  commanding  point,  all  creation  will 
assume  the  appearance  of  order,  and  be  seen  under  law.  And 
every  onward  step  in  this  direction  will  bring  him,  by  a  path 
increasingly  luminous,  nearer  to  the  throne  of  the  Eternal,  in 
whose  hand  all  laws  will  be  seen  to  meet. 

21.  The  being  who  is  supposed  to  be  intelligently  antici- 
pating the  creation  of  man,  would  foresee  that  the  earth  was 
designed  also  to  be  a  temple  for  worsJiip.  Here  —  he  might 
have  said  farther — wherever  man  may  look,  he  willfind  himself 
surrounded  by  the  symbols  of  the  Godhead.  Every  object  on 
wliich  his  eye  will  rest,  is  either  an  "  altar  of  memorial,"  or  an 
offering  to  be  laid  on  it.  Even  the  earth  itself,  as  it  goes 
speeding  through  space,  what  should  it  be  but  an  altar,  a* 
which  he  should  be  perpetually  ministering,  as  the  high-priesi 
of  nature  ? 

Here,  if  he  ask  for  proofs  of  the  power,  and  wisdom,  and 
goodness  of  God,  he  may  ascend,  by  higher  and  higher  gene- 
ralizations, from  phenomenal  causes  to  the  Great  First  Cause 
Himself;  and  from  the  contemplation  of  the  uninterrupted 
order,  the  symmetry  of  relations,  and  the  harmonious  combi- 
nation of  laws  observable  throughout  organic  nature,  to  the 
conviction  of  universal  design  in  the  Creating  Cause ;  and 
from  the  perception  that  all  this  exercise  of  wisdom  is  directed 
to  the  multiplication  and  happiness  of  a  world  of  sentient  life, 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  Creator  is  as  benevolent  as  He  is 
powei-ful  and  wise. 

But  geology  will  give  a  range  to  his  views  of  the  Divine 
all-sufficiency  beyond  all  admeasurement ;  it  will  admit  him  to 
a  succession  of  departed  worlds,  stored  with  the  monuments  of 
the  Creator's  inexhaustible  resources.  Plunge  as  far  back  as 
he  may  into  tlie  past,  lie  will  still  find  himself  in  the  province 
of  the  same  Creator,  and  surrounded  by  evidences  that  "  He 
seeth  the  end  from  the  beirinnins:." 


SENTIENT  exts'.:knce.  263 

But  wliat  impressive  views  of  the  same  peiiections  will 
open  on  him  when  he  shall  come  to  perceive,  that  ail  the  long 
series  of  creations  by  which  the  globe  is  adapted  to  become 
his  habitation,  has  distinctly  contemplated  his  own  well-being  ? 
Were  his  advent  among  the  creatnres  to  be  that  of  a  distin- 
guished being  from  some  paradise  above,  means  for  develop- 
ing his  hidden  powers,  the  exquisite  adjustment  of  things  to 
strike  him  with  the  kind  forethought  of  the  Being  who  had 
sent  him  here,  provision  for  his  health,  and  comfort,'and  entire 
well-being  during  his  stay,  could  hardly  have  been  made  more 
obvious  and  abundant  than  they  actually  are.  Of  all  the  spe- 
cies of  animated  beings  that  have  inhabited  the  earth,  he  will 
be  the  first  to  look  upon  nature  with  an  intelligent  eye.  Till 
he  comes,  this  glorious  volume  of  the  Creator  will  remain  un 
read ;  and  not  only  will  he  be  able  to  interpret  natui-e,  it  will 
be  his  prerogative  to  employ  it  for  his  improvement.  Tlie  only 
use  which  the  brute  creation  unconsciously  make  of  it,  is  that 
of  sustaining  and  perpetuating  their  kind.  He  will  employ  it 
also  for  the  same  purpose,  but  this  very  employment  of  it  may 
be  of  a  nature  to  call  forth  the  exercise  of  his  reason,  and  to 
tend  to  his  intellectual  progress.  So  that  even  in  that  one 
solitary  respect,  in  which  he  and  the  animals  will  appear  to  be 
placed  on  a  level,  he  will  be  able  in  reality  to  assert  his  essen- 
tial superiority  over  them  ;  and  from  it  he  may  date  his  actual 
rise  above  them.  They  only  use  and  only  need  some  of  the 
present  products  of  the  earth.  Man  may  employ  the  products 
of  every  departed  world.  In  his  hands  the 'extremes  of  geo- 
logical duration  may  meet.  The  granite  of  ten  thousand  ages 
back  may  be  made  the  foundation  of  his  dwelling,  or  the  pe- 
destal of  his  image.  The  mountain  hmestone  —  petrified  exu- 
viae of  departed  worlds  —  may  serve  to  cement  and  beautify 
his  abode.  The  wreck  of  the  forests,  that  for  ages  waved  on 
the  surface  of  the  ancient  lands,  and  the  ferruginous  accumu- 
lations deposited  in  primeval  waters  may  supply  him  with  the 
principal  means  of  his  material  progress  and  comfort.  From 
the  rich  metallic  veins  which  interlace  the  earth,  he  may  de-^ 
rive  the  means  of  his  choicest  ornaments,  the  representatives 
of  all  his  material  wealth,  and  knowledge  "  more  precious  than 
rubies."  Every  flood  which  swept  over  the  ancient  continents, 
and  every  dislocating  earthquake,  which  contributed  to  the 
formation  of  cultivable  soils,  may  re-appear  in  man's  science, 
and  be  converted  to  his  purposes.  The  loadstone,  in  his  hands, 
may  become%n  instrument  by  which  to  call  the  stars  to  his 


264  THE    PR E-AD AMITE    EARTH. 

aid,  and  to  bid  defiance  to  the  apparent  boundlessness  of  the 
ocean,  while,  in  quest  of  scope  for  his  enterprise,  he  steers  to 
a  distant  region  of  the  globe.  The  subterranean  treasuries  of 
the  earth  contain  nothing  Avhich  he  will  not  be  able  to  use ; 
and  who  shall  say  but  that  the  time  may  come  in  his  history 
when  its  stores  will  prove  to  have  been  not  unnecessarily 
great  ?  Surely  the  creature  who  will  point  to  little  artificial 
contrivances  of  his  own  in  proof  of  his  sagacity  and  skill,  will 
not  fail  to  recognize  in  these  vast  prospective  arrangements 
for  his  coming,  convincing  indications  of  a  beneficent  superin- 
tending mind !  And  surely  as  time  advances,  and  new  and 
more  profound  adaptations  of  nature  rise  to  view,  as  man 
comes  to  find  that  his  race  have  been  living  for  ages  in  the 
midst  of  complicated  adaptations  of  which  they  were  uncon- 
scious, and  which  could  be  developed  only  as  the  result  of  a 
long  series  of  prior  discoveries,  but  all  tending  to  his  develop- 
ment and  well-being,  his  recognition  of  the  Creative  wisdom 
and  goodness  will  become  more  vivid  and  grateful,  and  the 
earth  become  more  sacred  in  his  eyes ! 

Probably,  too  —  the  supposed  soliloquist  might  have  con- 
tinued—  probably,  as  preceding  changes  of  the  earth  have 
been  followed  by  new  and  enlarged  creations  of  animal  life, 
the  period  of  man's  creation  may  be  marked  by  some  new  pro- 
ductions of  the  Divine  power,  designed  to  contribute  yet  fur- 
ther to  human  w^elfare.  But,  whether  it  should  be  so  or  not, 
the  earth,  even  as  it  is,  appears  to  be  so  replete  with  prepa- 
rations for  his  coming,  that  He  alone  could  perceive  any  defi- 
ciency, whose  unlimited  power  is  able  to  supply  it.  It  is  only 
in  such  a  world  that  a  creature  like  man  could  live,  and  his 
character  be  developed.  Here,  every  part  of  his  nature  will 
find  its  appropriate  domain.  The  phenomena  of  geology  alone 
—  what  lessons  wdll  they  read  to  his  intellectual  and  moral  na- 
ture ?  Can  he  recognise  in  the  series  of  organic  worlds,  dis- 
tinct evidence  of  a  succession  of  creations,  without  feeling  as 
if  he  were  reading  so  many  proclamations  of  the  Divine  power 
laid  up  for  his  perusal  ?  feeling  it  with  a  vividness  wdiich  could 
hardly  be  increased  even  if  he  could  reach  the  foundation  of 
the  earth  and  there  find  the  inscription,  "  Laid  by  the  Divine 
Hand,  to  be  discovered  and  deciphered  by  man  unnumbered 
ages  hence."  When  he  shall  perceive  that  these  successive 
creations  are  only  the  gradual  filling  up  of  a  vast  and  harmo- 
nious outline,  will  he  not  be  penetrated  wdth  wonder  at  the 
comprehensiveness  of  the  Divine  plans,  and  the  unchangeable- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  265 

tiess  of  the  Divine  nature  ?  Can  he  ever  attempt  a  computa- 
tion of  the  enormous  periods  which  must  have  elapsed  since 
Hfe  first  moved  on  the  globe,  without  being  carried  back  in 
imagination  to  a  past  eternity ;  and  without  thinking,  by  the 
mere  rebound  of  the  mind,  of  an  eternity  yet  to  come  ?  And, 
then,  will  it  be  possible  for  him  to  mark  how  all  the  stu- 
pendous miracles  of  the  past  have  conspired  to  prepare  the 
earth  to  receive  him,  without  feeling  that  the  adaptation  must 
have  been  contemplated  from  the  first,  and  without  surrender- 
ing himself  up  to  the  emotions  of  adoration  and  joy  ? 

And  shall  these  geological  records  of  the  past  furnish  him 
with  no  ground  of  conclusion,  or  of  rational  conjecture,  re- 
specting the  future  ?  He  will  be  able  to  point  to  an  era  when 
his  race  had  not  yet  begun  to  exist.  An  age  after,  and  man 
had  been  called  into  being,  and  had  entered  on  his  career. 
Every  one  of  his  posterity,  therefore,  traced  back  to  his  origin 
through  the  preceding  generations  of  mankind,  will  carry  about 
in  his  own  person  indubitable  evidence  of  a  miracle.  And 
may  he  not  justly  reason  that,  unless  the  Supreme  Power  can 
be  supposed  to  have  exhausted  itself  in  his  own  creation,  the 
energy  which  could  perform  the  long  succession  of  stupendous 
miracles  of  which  the  production  of  the  first  man  was  the 
crowning  act,  must  be  capable  of  performing  other  miraculous 
acts  ?  And  unless  he  should  suppose  that  he  himself  has  been 
created  without  any  object,  or  that  God  has  excluded  Himself 
from  his  own  world,  and  has  bound  Himself  in  the  iron  chain 
of  an  everlasting  mechanism,  will  it  not  be  natural  for  him  to 
infer  that  the  object  for  which  the  miracle  of  his  own  creation 
was  wrought  may  subsequently  require  the  performance  of 
other  miracles  in  harmony  with  the  primary  one,  and  leading 
to  the  same  result  ?  And  unless  it  could  be  shown  that  no  be- 
neficent provision  whatever  had  been  originally  made  for  hu- 
man happiness,  the  existence  of  such  provision  will  surely 
warrant  the  conclusion  that,  if  ever  circumstances  should  arise 
in  which  it  would  be  more  for  the  well-being  of  man  to  modify 
or  to  enlarge  that  provision  than  not  to  do  so,  it  would  —  all 
other  things  being  equal  —  be  worthy  of  Divine  Goodness  so  to 
modify  or  enlarge  it.  And  will  not  the  persuasion  that  he 
stands  in  the  midst  of  a  system  yet  in  progress  —  a  system, 
therefore,  from  which  God  is  never  absent  —  tend  to  invest 
the  earth  with  the  hallowed  character  of  a  temple,  and  to  con- 
vert his  every  inquiry  respecting  the  past  and  the  future  into 
an  act  of  worship  ? 

23 


266  THE   PRE- AD  AMITE   EARTH. 

22.  But  what  if  this  same  being  who  had  been  given  to 
understand  that  the  earth  would  be  a  school  for  man's  educa- 
tion, and- a  temple  for  his  worship,  had  been  foretold  also  that 
it  would  be  the  sphere  of  human  probation  ;  that  even  its  natu- 
ral scenery  and  productions  would,  in  a  sense,  be  conveyed  into 
the  mind  of  man,  and  be  taken  up  into  his  character ;  that 
every  object  and  event  in  nature  would,  in  a  variety  of  ways, 
be  wrought  into  the  texture  of  man's  moral  history ;  and  that 
every  law  expressed,  and  every  truth  symbolized,  in  nature, 
would  sooner  or  later  become  a  test  of  character,  what  a  field 
for  solemn  conjecture  would  have  been  opened  before  him? 
Perversions  of  these  truths  which  have  become  familiar  to  us, 
would  doubtless  have  appeared  to  him  so  gross  as  to  be  next 
to  impossible.  Whatever  errors  man  may  imbibe,  we  may 
suppose  him  to  have  said  —  it  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  he 
will  ever  so  far  discredit  his  reason  as  to  mistake  those  created 
exponents  of  certain  attributes  of  the  Divine  Nature  for  that 
Infinite  Nature  itself ;  converting  the  intended  means  of  wor- 
ship into  objects  of  adoration.  Man's  moral  freedom,  if  nothing 
else,  seems  to  require  that  the  period  of  the  earth's  origin  should 
be  hid  in  a  dateless  antiquity ;  but  surely  he  will  not  therefore 
irrationally  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  eternal  and  uncre- 
ated. For  the  same  reason,  it  would  seem  to  be  necessary  that 
the  successive  stages  of  the  creative  process  should  not  be  so 
obtrusively  marked  and  palpable  as  to  compel  the  judgment  to 
the  right  conclusion;  but  can  it  be  that  all  other  evidence 
except  that  of  visible  creative  interference  shall  go  for  nothing 
with  a  being  meant  to  reason  ;  or  that  advantage  will  ever  be 
taken  of  the  absence  of  mere  visible  evidence,  to  affirm  the 
non-existence  of  an  invisible  Agent  ?  Whatever  may  be  meant 
by  the  uniformity  of  the  course  of  nature,  it  is  evident  that  it 
must  be  something  compatible  with  a  succession  of  changes  in 
which  new  races  have  been  brought  into  being,  differing  from 
all  previous  existences.  Contrary,  therefore,  as  such  a  crea- 
tive change  may  be  to  the  course  of  nature  for  a  certain  period, 
evidently,  it  is  by  no  means  contrary  to  the  great  scheme  to 
which  that  limited  period  belongs.  And  confidently  as  the 
permanence  of  nature  may  be  relied  on  during  a  given  period, 
with  equal  confidence  may  a  change  be  looked  for,  sooner  or 
later,  to  put  an  end  to  that  period.  The  changes  may  be  as 
regular  on  a  large  scale  of  things,  as  is  the  intervening  uni- 
formity on  a  smaller  scale.  Both  are  only  parts  of  a  great 
whole.     It  cannot  be  that  man,  who  will  actually  owe  his  ex- 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  267 

istence  to  one  of  these  miraculous  changes,  should  ever  come 
to  question  their  possibility ;  that,  arguing  from  his  own  uni- 
form experience  of  a  few»ages,  he  should  feel  himself  warranted 
to  pronounce  against  such  changes  during  the  vast  preceding 
cycles  compared  with  which  his  ages  will  be  as  moments  ;  and 
that  he  should  do  this  in  the  face  of  all  the  successive  worlds 
of  geological  evidence  to  the  contrary.  The  Divine  Creator  is 
the  "  God  of  order ;"  regularity  is  the  natural  characteristic  of 
His  procedure ;  without  it,  man  will  not  be  able  to  arrive  at 
any  knowledge  respecting  Him :  and  can  it  be  that  man  will 
take  occasion  from  the  very  order  of  nature  to  "  explode  the 
idea  of  a  God  ?"  shall  those  sequences,  without  which  he  will 
not  be  able  to  infer  the  Creative  Existence,  be  the  very  reason 
why  ijp  denies  it  ?  shall  the  very  laws  whose  existence  are 
essential  in  order  that  he  may  understand  anything  of  the  Law- 
giver, become,  in  his  hands,  weapons  for  dethroning  Him  ? 

If  it  shall  appear  from  the  event  that  one  of  the  great  rea- 
sons of  the  Creator  for  adopting  the  actual  method  of  creation, 
was  that  it  might  be  preconfigured  to  man's  intelligent,  volun- 
tary, and  moral  nature,  can  it  be  that  any  human  creature  will 
ever  come  to  construe  the  infinitely  complicated  coincidence  of 
the  two  into  a  proof  of  its  accidental  origin  —  as  if  the  proof  of 
design  diminished  in  proportion  as  the  evidence  increased.  If 
man's  free-agency  is  not  to  be  overborne  by  the  visible  display 
of  immediate  Divine  operation ;  if  the  evidence  of  creative 
agency  is  to  be  enough  to  convince,  but  not  so  much  as  to  over- 
whelm, the  attainment  of  this  balance  will  involve  relations  and 
adjustments  of  infinitely  diversified  complication,  and  will  form, 
in  truth,  the  grand  sphere  for  the  exercise  of  creative  wisdom 
and  goodness ;  surely  no  human  being  will  ever  employ  this 
freedom  in  questioning  the  existence  of  the  agency  which 
alone  makes  it  possible !  Without  it,  there  would  be  no  rea- 
soning —  no  man  ;  with  it,  shall  there  be,  for  him,  no  God  ? 

If  the  ultimate  end  both  of  the  creative  method  and  of  its 
reason  in  respect  to  man,  be  the  unfolding  of  the  Divine  all- 
sufficiency,  can  it  be  that  he  will  ever  derive  two  directly  oppo- 
site conclusions  from  the  same  creative  displays  ?  that  he  will 
at  one  time  contend,  that  as  his  inferences  can  only  go  to  the 
extent  of  his  evidence,  his  views  of  the  Divine  perfections, 
derived  from  natural  theology,  are  necessarily  limited ;  and,  at 
another,  that  the  Being  who  could  originate  the  universe  must 
be  too  exalted  to  interest  himself  in  any  of  its  mere  details  ? 
Is  it  possible  that,  on  a  survey  of  creation,  one  man  should 


268  THE  PRE-AD AMITE   EARTH. 

withhold  from  the  Creator  the  homage  involved  in  the  recogni- 
tion of  His  infinity ;  and  that  another,  on  the  ground  of  His 
infinite  greatness,  should  "  compliment  Him  out-  of  this  world 
as  a  place  too  mean  for  His  reception,"  and  excuse  Him  from 
its  government,  as  a  care  and  an  incumbrance  unsuited  to  His 
dignity  ;  and  from  its  worship,  as  a  thing  beneath  His  regard  ? 
Thoughts  such  as  these  —  had  there  been  a  being  to  enter- 
tain them  —  might  well  have  projected  a  deep  shadow  over 
the  earth  as  the  scene  of  man's  approaching  probation.  But 
may  we  not  suppose  that  the  gloom  would  have  been  relieved 
and  brightened  by  anticipations  of  a  very  opposite  tendency  ? 
Here,  the  imaginary  seer  might  have  said,  as  he  recalled  the 
past  and  glanced  over  the  present  —  here  is  a  great  system  of 
argumentative  appeals,  for  the  infinite  power,  and  wis(kp,  and 
goodness  of  God,  appeals  which  predict  a  constitution  ntted  to 
receive  and  respond  to  them.  More  than  one  part  of  that  con- 
stitution will  be  constructed  to  respond.  Often,  the  response 
will  be  so  sudden  as  to  anticipate  the  slow  conclusions  of  the 
reasoning  process  ;  so  clear  and  distinct  as  to  be  heard  by  the 
most  unwilling  ear  ;  and  so  authoritative  and  impressive  as  to 
be  remembered  and  felt  long  after  every  opposing  voice  has 
ceased.  Rightly  considered,  creation  will  be  regarded  as  a 
hynm  of  praise  to  its  Maker ;  and  man  will  aspire  to  lead  the 
song.  While  from  the  depths  of  the  earth  —  from  the  wreck 
of  former  worlds  — he  will  derive  materials  with  which  to  erect 
an  altar  of  gratitude  to  Him  who  "  reneweth  the  face  of  the 
earth.'*  And  what  even  if  man's  moral  relations  to  the  Deity 
should  be  disturbed,  and  his  condition  should  consequently 
become  such  as  to  require  information  which  it  is  not  in  the 
power  of  nature  to  impart ;  even  then  —  though  some  of  his 
race,  alas  !  owing  partly  to  the  very  scantiness  of  their  natural 
knowledge  of  God,  and  in  proportion  to  it,  may  blindly  profess 
to  be  satisfied  and  to  desire  no  more,  —  yet  the  natural  theol- 
ogy of  others  will,  in  proportion  to  its  extent  and  fulness,  tend 
to  awaken  a  thirst  for  a  higher  and  more  enlarged  revelation 
of  the  Divine  character,  and  prepare  them  to  expect  it.  Insuf- 
ficient as  the  knowledge  of  God  derivable  from  nature  may  be 
as  a  sanctuary  for  conscious  guilt,  it  may  yet  serve  as  the  sub- 
structions and  steps  of  another  temple,  from  the  sacred  reces- 
ses of  which  may  be  caused  to  issue  the  oracles  of  Holiness, 
Mercy,  and  Love.  And  as  the  vastness  of  the  Divine  re- 
sources displayed  in  nature,  joined  with  the  consideration  that, 
indefinite  as  they  must  be  to  man,  they  are  after  all  finite  to 


SENTIENT    EXISTENCE.  269 

God,  is  the  reflection  which,  more  than  any  other,  will  impress 
him  with  the  all-sufficiency  of  God  in  creation,  so  it  may  in- 
spire him  with  the  hope  of  the  Divine  all-scfficiency  for  his 
moral  recovery,  and  be  even  employed  by  God  to  image  that 
sufficiency  forth. 

23.  A  being  placed,  and  informed  Tespecting  the  past  and 
the  future,  as  we  have  supposed,  could  not  have  recognized  the 
signs  of  approaching  change  —  if  such  signs  there  were  — 
symptoms  of  the  impending  revolution  of  a  portion,  at  least,  of 
the  earth's  surface ;  and  then  have  recalled  before  his  mind  the 
succession  of  new  creations,  which  had  followed  from  like  revo- 
lutions before,  without  rising  to  adoration,  and  saying,  in  effisct, 
**  Of  old  hast  thou  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth ;  and  the 
heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands ;  they  shall  perish,  but  thou 
remainest ;  yea,  they  all  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment ;  as  a 
vesture  shalt  thou  roll  them  up,  and  they  shall  be  changed : 
but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  have  no  end."  And 
as  he  stood  on  the  verge  of  the  crisis,  with  the  ominous  shadows 
of  the  last  evening  settled  around  him,  and  all  nature  hushed 
in  portentous  silence,  he  could  not  picture  to  his  mind  the  pos- 
sibilities involved  in  the  impending  stage  of  the  Divine  pro- 
cedure, without  being  conscious  of  an  earnest  desire  to  behold 
the  creature,  man,  and  the  wondrous  scenes  which  would  sig- 
nalize his  eventful  history. 


23* 


NOTES. 


Note  A,  p.  13. 

I  HAVE  been  humbled  at  finding  tbe  view  advocated  in  the 
text,  spoken  of  by  some  —  teachers  of  theology  too  —  as  an  im- 
peachment of  the  Divine  disinterestedness  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
as- an  imputation  of  Divine  selfishness.  This  misrepresentation 
might  arise  either  from  a  jealousy  of  the  Divine  Greatness,  or 
from  a  mistaken  jealousy  for  it,  accompanied  with  an  indolent 
misconception  of  the  subject.  In  the  first  of  these  instances,  it 
is  human  self-importance  entering  into  competition  with  Infinite 
Greatness  and  laboring  to  dethrone  it,  only  that  it  might  occupy 
the  vacated  seat. 

In  the  second  the  objector  appears  to  argue  in  oblivion  of  all 
the  facts  appropriate  to  the  subject,  and  under  the  anthropomor- 
phising  impression  that  God  "  is  altogether  such  an  one  as  himself" 
First,  he  forgets  that  no  objection  can  be  alleged  against  the 
view  that  God  will  be  his  own  end  in  the  eternity  to  come,  which 
does  not  equally  lie  against  the  view  that  He  was  his  own  end  in 
the  eternity  past ;  and  yet  no  one  can  raise  a  question  on  this 
point,  for  during  the  past  eternity  He  alone  existed.  Secondly, 
the  objector  forgets  that  the  view  must  be  true  in  some  hifi^h  and 
substantial  sense,  for  the  doctrine  that  "  of  Him,  and  throu"-h 
Him,  and  to  Him,  are  all  things,"  runs  through  the  Bible  like  a 
line  of  light.  Thirdly,  the  selfishness  which  the  view  is  supposed 
to  impute  or  imply  is  purely  anthropopathic,  or  arises  from  a 
mental  transference  to  the  infinitely  blessed  God  of  human  pas- 
sions, and,  as  such,  it  can  have  no  place  with  God  ;  for  selfishness 
implies  the  appropriation  of  happiness,  or  of  the  means  of  happi- 
ness, belonging  to  others,  whereas,  in  the  present  unique  instance, 
the  idea  of  appropriation  can  have  no  place,  since  al!  that  man 
enjoys  is  of  Divine  impartation.     Fourthly,  the  only  alternative 


272  NOTES. 

to  God  being  the  chief  end  of  creation  is,  that  man  be  that  end. 
But  the  only  reason  which  could  be  assigned  for  this  view  is  (not 
that  it  is  rights  as  in  the  case  of  one  human  being  benefiting  an- 
other, but)  that  it  appears  to  some  to  be  more  loorthy  of  God; 
which  is  only  saying,  in  other  words,  that  that  must  be  the  end  of 
creation  which  is  most  worthy  of  God,  and  most  glorious  to'  him  — 
thus,  in  reality,  affirming  the  doctrine  in  the  very  act  of  denying 
it.  And,  fifthly,  the  happiness  of  the  creature  requires  that  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  All-sufficiency  be  the  chief  end  of 
creation.  Surely,  it  could  not  conduce  to  the  happiness  of  an 
intelligent  creature  to  believe  that  the  Infinite  existed  for  the 
finite,  and  was  subordinated  to  it.  On  the  contrary,  the  blessed- 
ness of  holy  beings  must^^consist  mainly  in  their  conscious  and 
chosen  dependence  on  infinite  excellence;  in  the  ever-present 
idea  of  its  infinity  contrasted  with  their  limitation,  leaving  room 
for  progress  unending.  Further,  I  might  proceed  to  remind  the 
objector  that  if  it  is  thought  no  impeachment  of  any  Divine  per- 
fection to  believe  (as  he  himself  probably  believes)  that  animal 
enjoyment,  though  an  end  of  the  animal  kingdom,  was  not  the 
highest  end  contemplated  by  the  animal  creation  ;  that  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  contributed  to  the  enjoyment,  education,  and 
well-being  of  the  human  race,  is  a  yet  higher  end  ;  so  man's  crea- 
tion may,  consistently  with  the  same  Perfection,  point  to  an  end 
beyond  itself;  and  what  end  can  that  be,  but  the  only  one  which 
is  infinite  ?  I  can  hardly  bring  myself  to  confess  that,  in  more 
than  one  instance,  I  have  actually  met  with  an  objection  to  the 
view  I  am  now  advocating,  which  amounted  to  this,  "  we  do  not 
object  to  the  fact  that  the  highest  end  of  creation  should  be  the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  excellence ;  perhaps  this  is  right ; 
perhaps  it  is  even  unavoidable,  and  arises  necessarily  from  the 
very  nature  of  things ;  we  only  demur  to  the  idea  of  the  Divine 
Being  designing  it!"  Evidently,  their  conception  of  the  Majesty 
of  heaven  is  that  of  a  great  human  being;  of  one  who,  (to  adopt 
the  sentiment  of  the  poet,)  having  "  done  good  by  stealth,"  is  ex- 
pected to  "  blush  when  he  finds  it  fame  !"  He  must  not  accept 
the  homage  of  heaven  as  his  right,  but  as  praise  unexpected  and 
undeserved.  He,  not  the  adoring  seraphim,  must  veil.  Their 
heau-ideal  of  Perfection  omits  prescience ;  for  how  otherwise  could 
the  Creator  fail  to  foresee  the  results  of  his  own  creation ;  and, 
foreseeing,  how  could  He  do  otherwise  than  accept,  adopt,  or  design 
them  ?  But  to  do  this  is,  in  their  eyes,  to  sacrifice  the  proprie- 
ties !  !     "  0  righteous  Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee  !  " 


NOTES.  273 


Note  B,  p.  75. 

"  In  the  beginning  God  created  tlie  heavens  and  the  earth. 
Now  the  earth  was  without  form  and  waste,  and  darkness  was 
upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  And  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon 
the  face  of  the  waters."  —  Genesis  i.  1,  2. 

From  a  careful  consideration  of  the  subject,  it  is  the  full  con- 
viction of  the  writer,  that  the  first  of  the  two  verses  just  quoted 
•was  placed  by  the  hand  of  Inspiration  at  the  opening  of  the  Bible 
as  a  distinct  and  independent  sentence ;  that  it  was  the  Divine 
intention  to  affirm  by  it,  that  the  material  universe  was  primarily 
originated  by  God  from  elements  not  previously  existing ;  and 
that  this  originating  act  was  quite  distinct  from  the  acts  included 
in  the  six  natural  days  of  the  Adamic  creation.^  It  should  be 
observed  that  this  interpretation  by  no  means  implies  that  Moses 
himself  put  this  construction  on  the  sentence,  or  intended  to  con- 
vey this  meaning,  He  might ;  or  he  might  not.  He  was  only 
the  organ  for  its  transmission.  But  it  is  a  well-known  canon  of 
Scripture  interpretation,  that  the  statements  of  the  word  of  God 
are  to  be  understood,  not  merely  in  that  sense  in  which  they  were 
apprehended  by  the  human  instruments  employed  to  make  them, 
nor  in  that  sense  to  which  their  hearers  or  readers  at  the  time 
could  reach,  but  in  the  sense  which  He  himself  attached  to  them. 
For  example,  there  is  ground  to  believe  that  Moses  himself  was 
not  aware  of  the  profound  spiritual  meaning  of  much  of  the  ritual 
which  he  was  employed  to  institute.  It  was  an  obscure  text, 
which  awaited  the  Divine  commentary  of  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation. 

Nor  is  it  meant  to  be  implied  by  this  interpretation  that  the 
Bible  was  designed  to  teach  astronomy,  geology,  or  any  other 
branch  of  natural  science.  When  we  are  enlarging  on  the  histor- 
ical parts  of  Scripture,  for  instance,  no  one  infers  that  we  mean 
to  affirm  that  the  Bible  was  designed  to  teach  either  the  mere 
facts,  or  the  philosophy,  of  history.  Its  object,  in  such  parts,  is 
to  teach  the  doctrine  of  God's  government  of  the  world ;  and  all 
that  we  are  supposed  to  mean  is,  that  the  events  related  in  proof 
or  illustration  of  the  doctrine,  were  matters  of  fact ^  actual  occur- 
rences^ divinely  attested.  So  here ;  the  obvious  purpose  of  the 
inspired  writer  is  to  teach  the  great  truth  that  God  is  the  Creator 
of  all  things ;  and  all  that  the  nature  of  the  case  requires  — and 

*  See  Dr.  J.  P.  Smith's  admirable  work  on  Scripture  ...id  (Jcology. 
Lecture  VI.  Part  II.,  and  Notes  P.  Q.     Second  Edition. 


274  NOTES. 

this  it  does  seem  to  require  —  is,  that,  however  anthopomorphic 
and  popular  the  language  employed  may  be,  the  events  related  in 
illustration  of  the  truth  should  be  actual  occurrences.  But  being 
such,  it  follows  that  they  will  be  found  in  harmony  with  the  facts 
of  science.  The  view  just  propounded,  and  which  appears  to  the 
writer  to  be  the  only  just  construction  of  the  verse  in  question, 
involves  the  following  three  propositions;  that,  by  "the  heavens 
and  the  earth,"  are  here  to  be  understood  the  material  universe ; 
that  the  original  act  of  creation  was  the  calling  of  the  material  of 
the  universe  into  existence  ;  and  that  this  act  was  not  included 
in  the  six  days  of  the  Adamic  creation. 

The  first  of  the  propositions  —  that  by  "  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,"  are  here  to  be  understood  the  material  universe  —  hardly 
admits  of  a  question.  Even  if  the  phrase,  "  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,"  does  not  include  more  than  the  material  universe —  (name- 
ly, dependent  sentient  and  intelligent  beings  also) — it  cannot  be 
regarded  as  denoting  less.  In  proof  of  which,  if  proof  be  neces- 
sary, it  may  be  alleged,  that  the  material  universe  is  the  subject 
immediately  taken  up  in  the  verses  following ;  that  the  phrase  in 
question  became  a  Hebrew  formula  for  expressing  the  material 
universe,  a  formula  most  likely  adopted  from  this  opening  verse ; 
and  that  such  appear  to  be  the  inspired  exposition  of  the  phrase 

—  as  in  Psalms  cii.  25,  "  Thou,  Lord,  in  the  beginning  hast  laid 
the  foundation  of  the  earth:  and  the  heavens  are  the  work  of 
thy  hands." 

The  second  proposition  —  that  the  original  act  of  creation  was 
the  calling  of  matter  into  existence  —  though  not,  at  first  sight 
equally  obvious,  appears,  on  examination,  to  be  equally  certain. 
There  are  those,  indeed,  who,  while  they  firmly  believe  that  mat- 
ter is  not  eternal,  refuse  to  admit  that  this  verse  afiirms  its  origi- 
nation. Their  persuasion  is,  that  the  verse  takes  us  back  only 
to  the  beginning  of  the  Adamic  creation,  and  affirms  that  God 
was  the  immediate  former  of  the  present  state  of  things  ;  and 
that  the  verses  following  unfold  the  process  of  the  formation. 
And  the  chief  reason  which  they  assign  for  this  view  is,  that  hara 

—  created,  according  to  the  usus  loquendi,  signifies,  not  to  call  a 
thing  out  of  non-existence,  but  to  re-constitute  something  already 
in  existence  ;  and  is  used  indifferently  and  interchangeably  in 
G^any  passages  with  asah — made,  and  yatsar — formed  or  fashion- 
ed ;  and  that  there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  word  in  any  lan- 
guage which  expresses  the  idea  of  creation  independently  of  pre- 
3xisting  matter. 

In  reply,  I  would  submit  that  this  objection,  even  if  it  could 


NOTfis.  275 

be  substantiated,  does  not  meet  the  requirements  of  tlie  case  ;  and 
that  the  only  appropriate  evidence  is  that  which  is  derivable  from 
the  interpretations  of  the  phrase,  and  of  the  subject,  as  found  in 
other  parts  of  Scripture.  For,  first,  from  the  very  nature  of  the 
subject,  the  u.^iis  loquendi  never  can  obtain  in  relation  to  any 
word  employed  to  express  creation  out  of  nothing.  And  the  ap- 
parent singularity  of  the  fact  might  have  well  awakened  inquiry 
how  it  is  that,  while  every  language  has  the  idea,  no  language  has 
a  term  exclusioeli/  employed  to  express  it,  but  adopts  a  phrase 
instead.'  The  obvious  reason  is,  that  even  if  a  term  —  bara,  for 
example  —  had  been  at  first  devised  and  employed  to  express  the 
Divine  origination  of  matter,  man,  according  to  a  well-known  and 
universal  tendency,  would  soon  have  adopted  it  as  the  most  em- 
phatic mode  of  expressing  his  own  secondary  origination,  or  mere 
formation,  of  things.  And  then  as,  in  its  primary  signification, 
it  could  only,  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  applied  to  a  single  act 
of  the  Divine  Being,  while  in  its  secondary  sense  it  could  be 
applied  to  all  kinds  of  human  origination  of  all  kinds  of  things, 
the  usus  loquendi  would  speedily  place  the  secondary  meaning 
first.  Let  it  be  imagined  that  a  new  term  were  to  be  now  devised 
to  express  the  idea  in  question  —  let  it  be  the  term  earnihilate  — 
and  immediately  man  would  adopt  it  to  express  his  own  produc- 
tion of  things,  just  as  he  now  speaks  of  annihilating  them;  though 
he  can  do  either  only  in  a  secondary  sense.  And  as,  in  this  sec 
ondary  sense,  he  would  be  daily, exnihilating,  while  the  term,  in 
its  primary  signification,  could  be  predicated  only  of  the  one  ori- 
ginating act  of  the  Divine  Being,  of  course  the  iisus  loquendi 
would  immediately  obtain  in  favor  of  the  secondary  sense.  Now, 
admitting  the  term  bara  to  have  meant,  when  employed  in  the 
first  verse  of  Genesis,  the  actual  creation  of  matter,  its  secondary 
application  would  soon  have  acquired,  in  this    manner,  the  sanc- 


^  When  Dr.  Pusey,  Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Oxford,  states,  (Buckland's 
Bridgewater  Treatise,  note,  p.  22,)  that  "our  very  addition  of  the  words 
'  out  of  nothing,'  shows  that  the  Avord  creation  has  not,  in  itself,"  the  force 
of  absolute  origination,  he  appears  to  overlook  the  only  point  in  the  discus- 
sion worth  remembering,  namely,  that  .this  additional  phrase  is  properly 
employed  only  when  something  is  supposed  already  to  exist,  out  of  which 
the  thing  made  might  possibly  be  produced.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
speaking  of  the  origination  of  primordial  elements^  no  one  could  say  that 
they  were  created  out  of  nothing  without  tautology ;  for  this  would  be  to 
state  formally  that  the  first  has  no  antecedent,  or  that  tlie  tirst  is  not  sec- 
ond. So  that  the  word  creation,  when  predicated  of  i>rimovdial  matter — 
and  this  is  the  precise  thing  in  question  —  does  possess,  without  any  ad- 
ditional words,  the  force  of  absolute  origination. 


276  NOTES. 

tion  of  cnstom  ;  and  then,  as  inspired  language  did  not  differ  from 
ordinary  language,  the  term  would  subsequently  come  to  be  used, 
in  Scripture,  interchangeably  with  asah  —  made  and  yatsar  — 
formed.  Our  only  resource,  therefore,  is  to  ascertain  the  scrip- 
tural interpretation  of  the  term  in  those  passages  in  which  the 
first  verse  of  Genesis  was  present  to  the  mind  of  the  inspired 
writers.  Or  if,  secondly,  the  verb  hara  was  taken  by  inspiration 
from  a  prior  and  familiar  application  to  a  human  process,  and  was 
employed  metaphorically  to  denote  a  Divine  act  of  an  analogous 
but  unique  description,  then  also,  as  the  thought  would  govern 
the  word,  and  not  the  word  the  thought,  we  should  have  to  look 
for  that  thought  in  other  parts  of  the  inspired  volume. 

Now,  that  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  is  to  be  regarded  as  an- 
nouncing the  proper  creation  of  the  matter  of  the  visible  universe, 
is  apparent  from  the  following  passages  :  — 

1.  A  comparison  of  the  second  and  following  verses  in  Gen.  i. 
with  the  first  verse,  justifies  the  conclusion  that  the  act  denoted 
by  hara  in  the  first  verse  must  have  been  essentially  different  from 
mere  formation  out  of  materials  already  existing ;  for  after  that 
first  act  had  been  performed,  the  earth  still  remained  in  a  form- 
less chaotic  state.  On  this  point,  I  avail  myself  of  the  critical  judg- 
ment of  Professor  M.  Stuart  of  America ;  and  I  do  so  the  more 
readily,  because  he  is  avowedly  an  anti-geologist,  and  is  therefore 
free  from  all  suspicion  of  a  bias  from  that  quarter,  "  All  order 
and  arrangement  plainly  seem  to  be  considered,  by  the  writer  of 
Gen.  i.  as  having  been  effected  after  the  original  act  of  creation. 

*  *  *  The  original  act  of  creation,  as  understood  by  the  sacred 
writers,  appears  plainly  to  have  been,  the  calling  of  matter  into 
being,  the  causing  of  it  to  exist ;  and  out  of  this  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  were  afterwards  formed,  i.  e.,  reduced  to  their  present 
order  and  arrangement."' 

2.  In  the  opening  verses  of  St.  John's  Gospel  we  read,  "  In  the 
beginning  was  the  Logos,  and  the  Logos  was  with  God,  and  the 
Logos  was  God.  *  *  *  All  things  were  made  by  him."  Here,  it 
is  evident  that  the  design  of  the  sacred  writer  is  to  affirm  that, 
before  anything  existed  ad  extra,  the  Logos  existed  ;  for  his  object 
is  to  prove  that  everything  was  brought  into  existence  by  the 
Logos.  If  Scripture,  then,  is  to  be  its  own  interpreter,  we  must 
infer  that  the  phrase,  in  the  beginning,  as  employed  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  takes  us  back  to  the  same  period.  And  this  conclusion 
becomes  inevitable  when  we  observe  that,  in  using  this  phrase, 

1  Hebrew  Chrcstomathy,  p.  112. 


NOTES.  277 

the  Gospel  designedly,  and  for  obvious  reasons,  imitates  the  his- 
tory. If  the  Mosaic  use  of  the  phrase,  therefore,  does  not  take 
us  back  to  a  period  prior  to  the.  origination  of  matter,  it  cannot 
be  justly  inferred  that  the  apostolic  sense  of  the  phrase  does  ;  but 
that  the  "  all  things  made  by  him,"  excepts  matter,  i.  e.,  that 
matter  was  not  made  by  him,  and  that  he  did  not  exist  before  it. 

8.  In  harmony  with  the  view  for  which  we  are  contending, 
and  apparently  conclusive  of  it,  is  Heb.  xi.  3,  "  By  faith  we 
understand  that  the  worlds  were  formed  by  the  word  of  God,  so 
that  the  things  which  are  seen,  were  not  made  from  those  which 
do  appear."  It  cannot  be  justly  questioned  that  the  Divine  de- 
claration, by  faith  in  which  we  attain  to  this  conviction,  is  that 
contained  in  Gen.  i.  1,  for  the  apostle  next  refers  to  Gen.  iv.  4, 
and  next  to  Gen.  v.  24 ;  and  so  on,  in  orderly  succession.  Now, 
the  apostolic  exposition  of  that  declaration  is,  "  that  the  worlds 
were  formed  by  the  word  of  God"  —  by  the  commanding  word^  — 
"  the  symbol  of  the  Almighty  and  self-competent  power,  which 
requires  no  means  exterior  to  itself."^  And,  still  further  to  evolve 
and  expound  the  idea  of  absolute  origination.  It  is  added,  "  so 
that  the  things  which  are  seen,  were  not  made  from  things  which 
do  appear  ;"3  or,  which  amounts  to  the  same,  "  the  things  visible 
were  made  from  things  not  visible  ;"'*  i.  e.,  not  from  anything 
pre-exi^Ung ;  they  were  strictly  originated  by  the  creative  fiat. 
Had  the  apostle  meant  merely  that  the  visible  creation  was  form- 
ed from  a  pre-existing  invisible  matter,  he  surely  would  not  have 
made  it  a  doctrine  of  faith.  This  is  rather  a  doctrine  of  sense, 
in  antagonism  to  faith  ;  and,  as  such,  it  has  been  always  accept 
able  to  a  sensuous  philosophy. 

Indeed,  \^  does  not  appear  that  any  other  meaning  was  ever 
attached  to  the  Mosaic  statement,  by  the  ancient  church,  than 
that  given  by  the  apostle.  "  God  made  them  [heaven  and  earth] 
from  things  that  do  not  exist  ;"5  i.  e.,  from  nothing  previously 

*  Psalm  xxxiii.  6 ;  cxlviii.  5.  ^  Tholuck  on  the  Hebrews,  in  loc. 
^  E/f  TO  jifj  eK  (patvo/UEVcjv  tu,  jSleTrojueva  yeyovevat. 

*  M^  ^aivo/ievcou  being  here  equivalent  to  //^  ovtuv;  for,  as  God  alone 
existed  to  see  or  to  know,  if  there  was  nothing  visible  to  Him,  there  was 
nbthing.  Just  as  in  Hebrew,  nimtsa  —  that  which  is  found,  is  a  term  em- 
ployed to  denote  that  which  exists;  and, with  the  negative  particle,  to 
denote  the  not-found,  meaning  the  non-existent.  See  Bloomfield,  in  loc. ; 
Stuart,  Storr  and  Flatt,  §  xxxi, ;  Knapp's  Theology,  §  xlvi.  note;  the 
translations  of  Sacy,  Osterwald,  Luther,  Diodati,  and  the  Engiisli  ver- 
sions of  1557  aud  1611. 

^  OvK  e^  ovTov  kTTolrjaev  avra  6  Qebc;.     2  Mace.  vii.  28.     The  Vulgate, 
ex  nihilo  fecit  Dens  cozlum  et  terrain. 
24 


278  NOTES. 

existing.  According  to  the  Rabbins, ^  the  verse  should  be  ren- 
dered, "  God,  in  the  beginning,  created  the  substance  of  the 
heavens,  and  the  substance  of  the  earth."  The  Syriac  translator 
understood  the  verse  in  the  same  sense.^  It  is  clear,  says  Chry- 
sostom,  in  his  paraphrase .  of  the  apostolic  interpretation,  "  that 
God,  from  things  not  in  being,  made  those  which  are  in  being  ; 
from  those  not  visible,  the  things  which  do  appear  ;  and,  from 
things  having  no  subsistence,  those  things  which  subsist."  But 
if  such  is  the  apostolic  exposition  of  Gen.  i.  1,  it  follows  that  the 
same  exposition  must  be  received  as  the  inspired  interpretation 
of  the  whole  of  that  class  of  parallel  passages  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, of  which  that  verse  stands  at  the  head. 

The  tldrd  proposition  is,  that  this  absolute  origination  of  mat- 
ter was  a  Divine  act  not  included  in  the  six  days  of  the  Adamic 
creation.  The  question,  here,  does  not  respect  the  length  of  the 
interval  between  that  originating  act  and  the  Adamic  creation. 
The  proposition  simply  affirms  that  there  teas  an  interval ;  and  im- 
plies, that  the  inspired  text  neither  asserts  its  brevity  nor  denies 
its  length.  Its  duration  is  supposed  to  be  indicated  in  indelible 
characters  elsewhere  —  in  the  crust  of  the  globe  itself.  The 
scriptural  record  is  simply,  but  significantly,  indicative  of  an  in- 
terval. 

The  principal  objection  to  this  view  is  derived  from  ftcod.  xx. 
11,  wherein,  as  the  reason  for  observing  the  Sabbath,  the  entire 
and  complete  work  of  creation  is  supposed  to  be  described  as  car- 
ried on  and  ended  in  six  days.  To  which  it  should  be  sufficient 
to  reply,  that  so  much  of  the  creative  process  is  there  referred  to 
—  and  only  so  much  —  as  related  to  the  law  of  the  Sabbath, 
namely,  the  six  days  of  the  Adamic  creation  ;  or  th%  making  of 
the  heaven  and  the  earth  as  described  in  Gen.  i.  3,  &c.  But, 
secondly,  the  same  rule  which  leads  one  objector  to  rely  on  Exod. 
XX.  11,  as  a  proof  that  the  entire  creation  was  comprised  in  six 
Adamic  days,  would  justify  another  in  insisting  that  it  was  com- 
prised in  one  day,  because  it  is  said,  Gen.  ii.  4,  "  These  are  the 
generations  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  in  their  being  created, 
in  the  day  of  Jehovah  God's  making  earth  and  heavens  :"  the 
obvious  meaning  of  the  original  being,  however,  at  the  time  of 

'  Who  understand  et\  here  to  denote  the  substance  or  material  Com- 
pare Gesenius,  sub  voce ;  Aberi  IS.zrfl-  f  Kinichi,  in  his  Book  of  Roots ;  and 
Buxtoif  s  Talmudic  Lexicon. 

^  In  Walton's  Polyglott,  the  Syriac  is  ye*y  properly  translated,  esse 
cijeli  et  esse  terrai  —  the  being  or  substance  of  tlie  ne»;y^7i,  and  the  being  or 
swis/ance  of  the  earth.  ' 


NOTES.  279 

their  creation,  or  after  they  were  created.  And,  thirdly,  it  is  a 
violation  of  an  essential  rule  of  sound  interpretation  to  infer  the 
meaning  of  an  author  from  a  condensed  sentence,  introduced 
incidentally,  instead  of  deriving  it  from  his  more  direct,  connect- 
ed, and  ample  statements  on  the  same  subject.  Noav,  the  full 
and  formal  treatment  of  creation  occupies  the  whole  of  the  first 
ch-apter  of  Genesis.  To  afHrm,  without  proof,  that  the  verse  in 
Exodus  condenses  the  whole  of  the  chapter,  is  to  beg  the  very 
question  at  issue.  That  the  chapter  includes  all  that  the  verse 
relates  to,  I  admit.  But  it  includes  more.  It  affirms,  for  exam- 
ple, in  the  second  verse,  the  significant  fact,  that  there  was  a 
period  when  "  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void  :"  respecting 
this  the  verse  in  Exodus  is  silent ;  while,  in  the  first  verse,  the 
chapter  affirms  that  at  some  period  prior  to  that  state  of  chaos  — 
in  the  beginning  —  God  originated  the  material  of  the  universe. 
And  the  question  is,  whether,  according  to  the  critical  and  cor- 
rect rendering  of  the  text,  that  period  was  not  prior  to  the  six 
days  of  the  Adamic  creation. 

When  it  is  objected  to  this  priority,  that  the  decision  of  the 
question  might  be  safely  left  to  any  unbiassed  mind  on  a  perusal 
of  the  English  version  of  the  text,  the"  objector  is  evidently  cal- 
culating on  the  effect  likely  to  be  produced  on  the  "  unbiassed 
mind"  by  the  mere  juxtaposition  of  the  opening  verses,  and  by 
the  conjunctive  meaning,  and,  given  to  the  Hebrew  particle  vau, 
which  commences  the  second  verse.  This,  however,  is  an  appeal, 
not  to  his  knowledge,  but  to  his  ignorance.  It  is  to  take  advan- 
tage, not  of  his  judgment,  but  of  his  prejudice.  For  unless,  by 
an  act  of  marvellous  intuition,  he  could  infer  the  Hebrew  original 
from  the  English  rendering,  he  may,  for  aught  he  knows  to  the 
contrary,  be  pronouncing  on  the  meaning  of  a  faulty  translation. 
So  that  the  question  to  be  first  decided,  relates  to  the  correct 
rendering  of  the  original.  If,  for  example,  according  to  the  learn- 
ed and  judicious  Dathe,  that  rendering  should  be,  "  In  the  be- 
ginning, God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth.  But  afterwards 
the  earth  became  waste  and  desolate,"  —  an  unbiassed  mind,  in 
that  case,  could  arrive  only  at  the  conclusion  tljat  a  period  was 
spoken  of  prior  to  the  six  natural  days  described  in  the  verses 
following. 

Now  such  appears  to  be  the  true  sense  of  the  original.  The 
connecting  particle  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  verse  leaves 
the  question  of  time  entirely  open.  It  does  not  rule  the  sen- 
tence ;  the  sentence  rules  it,  and  determines  what  its  particular 
shade  of  meaning  was  intended  to  be.     Even  in  our  Enn;lish  ver- 


280  NOTES. 

slon,  it  Is  often  translated  by  other  conjunctions  :  thus,  in  the 
very  next  chapter,  verse  17,  it  is  rendered  hut.  Sometimes,  it 
begins  whole  books.  At  other  times,  as  in  Numb.  xx.  1,  it  spans 
a  wide  chronological  interval.  Indeed,  as  the  general  connective 
particle  of  the  Hebrew  language,  it  is  employed  as  copulative, 
continuative,  adversative,  disjunctive,  and  for  other  purposes ;' 
the  specific  purpose,  in  every  case,  being  determinable  by  a  con- 
sideration of  the  context  alone. 

To  an  examination  of  the  text,  then,  let  the  question  be  refer- 
red. Now,  that  the  originating  act,  described  in  the  first  verse, 
was  not  meant  to  be  included  in  the  account  of  the  six  Adamic 
days,  is  evident  from  the  following  considerations  :  First,  the 
creation  of  the  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  days,  begins 
with  the  formula.  And  God  said ;  it  is  only  natural,  therefore,  to 
conclude  that  the  creation  of  the  first  day  begins  with  the  third 
verse,  where  the  same  formula  is  employed,  "  And  God  said,  Let 
there  be  light."  But  if  so,  it  follows  that  the  act  described  in 
the  first  verse,  and  the  state  of  the  earth  spoken  of  in  the  second, 
must  have  both  belonged  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  first  day. 
Secondly,  the  only  adequate  reason  assignable  for  the  account 
given  in  the  second  verse  is,  to  prepare  the  reader  for  the 
description  which  follows  of  the  six  days'  work.  For  it  both 
intimates  the  necessity  for  such  work,  by  affirming  the  chaotic 
condition  of  the  earth ;  and  describes  the  Spirit  of  God  as  hover- 
ing over  the  chaos,  preparatory  to  it.  Not  only  the  originating 
act  in  the  first  verse,  therefore,  but  also  the  commencement  of  the 
energizing  process  in  the  second,  appears  to  have  preceded  the 
opening  fiat  of  creation  on  the  first  day,  and  to  have  been  intro- 
ductory to  it.  Thirdly,  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  regular  unfold- 
ing of  the  six  days'  work  begins  at  the  third  verse,  it  follows  that 
the  origination  of  the  earth,  in  the  first  verse,  was  anterior  to  and 
independent  of  it ;  for  no  such  an  act  is  again  adverted  to  In  the 
subsequent  verses.  On  the  whole,  then,  my  firm  persuasion  is, 
that  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  was  designed,  by  the  Divine  Spirit, 
to  announce  the  absolute  origination  of  the  material  universe  by 
the  Almighty  Creator ;  and  that  it  is  so  understood  in  other  parts 
of  Holy  Writ :  'that,  passing  by  an  indefinite  interval,  the  second 
verse  describes  the  state  of  our  planet  Immediately  prior  to  the 

^  Gesenius,  sub  voce.  The  lexicographer  refers  to  the  particle  in  Gen. 
i.  2,  as  an  instance  of  its  continuative  force  merely  —  i.  c,  as  employed  for 
the  simple  purpose  of  connecting  one  part  of  a  subject  with  the  next 
which  followed  it  in  the  order  of  the  writer's  design,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  length  of  intervening  time. 


NOTES.  281 

Adamic  creation  ;  and  that  the  third  verse  begins  the  account 
of  the  six  days'  work. 

K  I  am  reminded  that  I  am  in  danger  of  being  biassed  in 
favor  of  these  conclusions  by  the  hope  of  harmonizing  Scripture 
with  geology,  I  might  venture  to  suggest,  in  reply,  that  the 
danger  is  not  all  on  one  side.  Instances  of  adherence  to  tradi- 
tional interpretations,  chiefly  because  they  are  traditional  and 
popular,  though  in  the  face  of  all  evidence  of  their  faultlness,  are 
by  no  means  so  rare  as  to  render  warning  unnecessary.  The 
danger  of  confounding  the  infallibility  of  our  own  interpretation 
with  the  infallibility  of  the  sacred  text,  is  not  peculiar  to  a  party. 
If,  again,  I  am  reminded.  In  a  tone  of  animadversion,  that  I 
am  making  science,  in  this  instance,  the  interpreter  of  Scripture, 
my  reply  is,  that  I  am  simply  making  the  works  of  God  illustrate 
his  word,  in  a  department  in  which  they  speak  with  a  distinct 
and  authoritative  voice ;  that  "  it  is  all  the  same  whether  our 
geological  or  theological  investigations  have  been  prior.  If  we 
have  not  forced  the  one  into  accordance  with  the  other  ;"i  and 
that  It  might  be  deserving  consideration,  whether  or  not  the 
conduct  of  those  is  not  open  to  just  animadversion,  who  first 
undertake  to  pronounce  on  the  meaning  of  a  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture irrespective  of  all  the  appropriate  evidence,  and  who  then, 
when  that  evidence  is  explored  and  produced,  Insist  on  their  a 
priori  Interpretation  as  the  #nly  true  one. 

But  In  making  these  remarks,  I  have  been  conceding  too  much. 
The  views  which  I  have  exhibited  are  not  of  yesterday.  It  la 
"  important  and  interesting  to  observe,  how  the  early  fathers  of 
the  Christian  church  should  seem  to  have  entertained  precisely 
similar  views  ;  for  St.  Gregory  Nazlanzen,  after  St.  Justin  Mar- 
tyr, supposes  an  indefinite  period  between  the  creation  and  the 
first  ordering  of  all  things.  St.  Basil,  St.  Caasarlus,  and  Origen, 
are  much  more  explicit.''^  To  these  might  be  added  Augustine, 
Theodoret,  Episcopius,  and  others,  whose  remarks  Imply  the  ex- 
isten-ce  of  a  considerable  Interval  "  between  the  creation  related 
in  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  and  that  of  which  an  account  is 
given  in  the  third  and  following  verses."^  In  modern  times,  but 
long  before  geology  became  a  science,  the  independent  character 
of  the  opening  sentence  of  Genesis  was  affirmed  by  such  judi- 


'  Dr.  S.  Davidson's  Sacred  Hermencutics,  p.  672. 

2  Principal  Wiseman's  Lectures  on  the  Connection  between  Science 
and  Kevealcd  lteliL;ion,  vol.  i.  ]).  297. 

^  Tiic  Note  ill  IJiickhuKrs  lirid^ewalcr  Treatise,  by  Dr.  Pus-y,  wnu 
refers  to  i'etuviiis,  li!..  c.  cap.  11,  ^  i— viii. 
24* 


282  NOTES. 

cious  and  learned  men  as  Calvin,  Bishop  Patrick,  and  Dr.  David 
Jennings.^  And  "  in  some  old  editions  of  the  English  Bible, 
where  there  is  no  division  into  verses,  you  actually  find  a  break 
at  the  end  of  what  is  now  the  second  verse ;  and  in  Luther's 
Bible  (Wittemberg,  1557)  you  have  in  addition  the  figure  (I) 
placed  against  the  third  verse,  as  being  the  beginning  of  the 
account  of  the  creation  on  the  first  day."  Now  these  views  were 
formed  independently  of  all  geological  considerations.  In  the- 
entire  absence  of  evidence  from  this  quarter  —  probably  even  in 
opposition  to  it,  as  some  would  think  —  these  conclusions  were 
arrived  at  on  biblical  grounds  alone.  Geology  only  illustrates  and 
confirms  them.  The  works  of  God  prove  to  be  one  with  this 
preconceived  meaning  of  his  word.  And  there  is  ground  to  ex- 
pect that  this  early  interpretation  will  gradually  come  to  be 
universally  accepted  as  the  only  correct  one. 


Note  C,  p.  77. 

"  It  has  appeared  to  some  persons  that  the  mere  aspect  of 
order  and  symmetry  in  the  works  of  nature  —  the  contemplation 
of  comprehensive  and  consistent  law  —  is  sufficient  to  lead  us  to 
the  conception  of  a  design  and  intelligence  producing  the  order 
and  carrying  into  effect  the  law.  «^Vithout  here  attempting  to 
decide  whether  this  is  true,  we  may  discern  that  the  conception 
of  design  arrived  at  in  this  manner,  is  altogether  different  from 
that  idea  of  design  which  is  suggested  to  us  by  organized  bodies, 
and  which  we  describe  as  the  doctrine  of  Final  Causes.  The 
regular  form  of  a  crystal,  whatever  beautiful  symmetry  it  may 
exhibit,  whatever  general  laws  it  may  exemplify,  does  not  prove 
design  in  the  same  manner  in  which  design  is  proved  by  the 
provisions  for  the  preservation  and  growth  of  the  seeds  of  plants, 
and  of  the  young  of  animals.  The  laAv  of  universal  gravitation, 
however  wide  and  simple,  does  not  impress  us  with  the  belief  of 
a  purpose,  as  does  that  propensity  by  which  the  two  sexes  of 
each  animal  are  brought  together.  If  it  could  be  shown  that  the 
symmetrical  structure  of  a  flower  results  from  laws  of  the  same 
kind  as  those  which  determine  the  regular  forms  of  crystals,  or 
the  motions  of  the  planets,  the  discovery  might  be  very  striking 
and  important,  but  it  would  not  at  all  come  under  our  idea  of 
Final  Cause."  Whewell's  Phil,  of  the  Inductive  Sciences.,  vol.  ii. 
p.  87. 

*  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith's  Scripture  and  Geology,  pp  179,  180. 


NOTES.  283 

Note  D,  p.  131. 

This  note  is  taken,  partly,  from  an  abstract  of  a  coinmunlea- 
tion  to  the  British  Association,  in  1845,  by  Professor  E.  Forbes, 
"  On  the  Distribution  of  Endemic  Plants,  more  especially  those  of 
the  British  Islands,  considered  with  regard  to  Geological  Changes ;" 
and  partly  from  his  essay  "  On  the  connection  between  the  Dis- 
tribution of  the  existing  Fauna  and  Flora  of  the  British  Isles, 
and  the  Geological  Changes  which  have  affected  their  area,  es- 
pecially during  the  epoch  of  the  Northern  Drift,"  in  the  "  Me- 
moirs of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Great  Britain,  &c."  The  ob- 
ject of  its  insertion  here  is  to  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  successive 
creations. 

"  In  the  following  remarks  on  the  history  of  the  indigenous 
Fauna  and  Flora  of  the  British  Islands  and  the  neighboring  sea," 
writes  Professor  Forbes,  "  I  take  for  granted  the  existence  of 
specific  centres  —  i.  e.,  of  certain  geographical  points  from  which 
the  individuals  of  each  species  have  been  diffused.  This,  indeed, 
must  be  taken  for  granted,  if  the  idea  of  species  (as  most  natural- 
ists hold)  involves  the  idea  of  the  relationship  of  all  the  individ- 
uals composing  it,  and  their  consequent  descent  from  a  single 
progenitor,  or  from  two,  according  as  the  sexes  might  be  united 
or  distinct. 

"  That  this  view  is  true,  the  following  facts  go  far  to  prove. 
First :  Species  of  opposite  hemispheres  placed  under  similar  con- 
ditions are  representative^  and  not  identical.  Secondly  :  Species 
occupying  similar  conditions  in  geological  formations  far  apart, 
and  which  conditions  are  not  met  with  in  the  intermediate  forma- 
tions, are  representative  and  not  identical.  Thirdly  :  Wherever 
a  given  assemblage  of  conditions,  to  which,  and  to  which  only, 
certain  species  are  adapted,  are  continuous  —  whether  geographi- 
cally or  geologically  —  identical  species  range  throughout. 

"  I  offer  n-o  comments  on  these  three  great  facts,  which  I  pre- 
sent for  the  consideration  of  the  few  naturalists  who  doubt  the 
doctrine  of  specific  centres.  The  general  and  traditional  belief 
of  mankind  has  connected  the  idea  of  descent  with  that  of  distinct 
kinds,  or  species,  of  creatures ;  and  the  abandonment  of  this  doc- 
trine would  place  in  a  very  dubious  position  all  the  evidence  the 
palaBontologist  could  offer  to  the  geologist  towards  the  comparison 
and  identification  of  strata,  and  the  determination  of  the  epoch 
of  their  formation. 

"  Moreover,  it  is  notorious  that  the  doctrine  of  more  than  one 
point  of  origin  for  a  single  species,  and  consequently,  more  than 


284  NOTES. 

one  primogenitor  for  the  individuals  of  it,  sprcing  out  of  apparent 
anomalies  and  difficulties  in  distribution,  such  as  those  which  I 
am  about  to  show  can  be  reasonably  accounted  for,  without  having 
recourse  to  such  a  supposition. 

The  hypothesis  of  the  descent  of  all  the  Individuals  of  a  spe- 
cies either  from  a  first  pair  or  from  a  first  individual,  and  the 
consequent  theory  of  specific  centres,  being  assumed,  the  isolation 
of  assemblages  of  individuals  from  those  centres  and  the  existence 
of  endemic  or  very  local  plants,  remain  to  be  accounted  for.    Nat- 
ural transport,  the  agency  of  the  sea,  rivers,  and  winds,  and  car- 
riage by  animals,  or  through  the  agency  of  man,  are  means,  in 
the  majority  of  cases.  Insufficient.     It  is  usual  to  say  that  the 
presence  of  many  plants  is  determined  by  soil  or  climate,  as  the 
case  may  be ;  but  if  such  plants  be  found  in  areas  disconnected 
from  their  centres  by  considerable   intervals,  some  other  cause 
than  the  mere  influence  of  soil  or  climate  must  be  sought  to  ac- 
count for  their  presence.     This  cause  the  author  proposes  to  seek 
in  an  ancient  connection  of  the  outposts  or  isolated  areas  with  the 
original  centres,  and  the  subsequent  isolation  of  the  former  through 
geological  changes  and  events,  especially  those  dependent  on  the 
elevation  and  depression  of  land.     Selecting  the  flora  of  the  Brit- 
ish Isles  for  a  first  illustration  of  this  view,  Professor  Forbes  calls 
attention  to  the  fact,  well  known  to  botanists,  of  certain  species 
of  flowering  plants  being  found  indigenous  in  portions  of  that  area 
at  a  great  distance  from  the  nearest  assemblage  of  mdlviduals  of 
the  same  species  in  countries  beyond  it.     Thus  many  plants  pecu- 
liar In  the  British  flora  to  the  west  of  Ireland  have  the  nearest 
portion  of  their  specific  centres  in  the  north-west  of  Spain  ;  others, 
confined  with  us  to  the  south-west  promontory  of  England,  are, 
beyond  our  shores,  found  In  the  Channel  Isles  and  the  opposite 
coast  of  France ;   the  vegetation  of  the  south-east  of  England  is 
that  of  the  opposite  part  of  the  Continent ;  and  the  Alpine  veg- 
etation of  Wales  and  the  Scottish  Highlands  is  Intimately  related 
to  that  of  the  Norwegian  Alps.     The  great  mass  of  the  British 
flora  has  its  most  intimate  relations  with  that  of  western  Germany. 
The  vegetation  of  the  British  Islands  may  be  said  to  be  composed 
of  five  floras :  —  1st,  a  west  Pyrenean,  confined   to  the   west  of 
Ireland,  and  mostly  to  the  mountains  of  that  district ;   2nd,  a  flora 
related  to  that  of  the  south-west  of  France,  extending  from  the 
Channel  Isles,  across  Devon  arid  Cornwall,  to  the  south-east  and 
part  of  the  south-west  of  Ireland ;  3rd,  the  flora  common  to  the 
north  of  France  and  south-east  of  England,  and  especially  devel- 
oped in  the  chalk  districts ;  4th,  an  Alpine  flora,  deve'oped  In  the 


•  NOTES.  285 

mountains  of  Wales,  north  of  England,  and  Scotland ;  and  5th,  a 
Germanic  flora,  extending  over  the  greater  part  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  mingling  with  the  other  floras,  and  diminishing, 
though  slightly,  as  we  proceed  westwards,  indicating  its  easterly 
origin  and  relation  to  the  characteristic  flora  of  northern  and 
western  Germany.  Interspersed  among  the  members  of  the  last- 
named  flora  are  a  very  few  specific  centres,  peculiar  to  the  British 
Isles.  The  author  numbers  these  floras  according  to  magnitude 
as  to  species,  and  also,  in  his  opinion,  according  to  their  relative 
age  and  periods  of  introduction  into  the  area  of  the  British  Is- 
lands.     His  conclusions  on  this  point  are  the  following :  — 

"1.  The  oldest  of  the  floras  now  composing  the  vegetation  of 
the  British  Isles  is  that  of  the  mountains  of  the  west  of  Ireland. 
Although  an  Alpine  flora,  it  is  southernmost  in  character,  and  quite 
distinct  as  a  system  from  the  ftoras  of  the  Scottish  and  Welsh  Alps. 
Its  very  southern  character,  its  limitation,  and  its  extreme  isola- 
tion, are  evidences  of  its  antiquity,  pointing  to  a  period  when  a 
great  mountain  barrier  extended  across  the  mouth  of  the  Bay  of 
Biscay  from  Spain  to  Ireland. 

"  2.  The  distribution  of  the  second  flora,  next  in  point  of  prob- 
able date,  depended  on  the  extension  of  a  barrier,  the  traces  of 
which  still  remain,  from  the  west  of  France  to  the  south-west 
of  Britain,  and  thence  to  Ireland. 

"  3.  The  distribution  of  the  third  flora  depended  on  the  con- 
nection of  the  coasts  of  France  and  England  towards  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Channel.  Of  the  former  existence  of  this  union  no 
geologist  doubts. 

"  4.  The  distribution  of  the  fourth,  or  Alpine  flora  of  Scotland 
and  Wales,  was  effected  during  the  glacial  period,  when  the  moun- 
tain summits  of  Britain  were  low  islands,  or  members  of  chains 
of  islands,  extending  to  the  area  of  Norway  through  a  glacial  sea, 
and  clothed  with  an  arctic  vegetation,  which,  in  the  gradual  up- 
heaval of  the  land,  and  consequent  change  of  climate,  became  limit- 
ed to  the  summits  of  the  new  formed  and  still  existing  mountains. 

"  5.  The  distribution  of  the  fifth,  or  Germanic  flora,  depended 
on  the  upheaval  of  the  bed  of  the  glacial  sea,  and  the  consequent 
connection  of  Ireland  and  England,  and  of  England  with  Ger- 
many, by  great  plains,  the  fragments  of  which  still  exist,  and  upon 
which  livfed  the  great  elk,  and  other  quadrupeds  now  extinct. 

"The  breaking  up,  or  submergence,  of  the  first  barrier  led  to 
the  destruction  of  the  second ;  that  of  the  second  to  that  of  the 
third  ;  but  the  well-marked  epoch  of  the  Germanic  flora  indi- 
cates the  subsequent  formation  of  the  Straits  of  Dover  an(#of 
the  Irish  Sea,  as  now  exi.-ting. 


286  NOTES.  # 

"  To  determine  the  probable  geological  epoch  of  the  first,  or 
west  Irish  flora,  a  fragment,  perhaps,  with  that  of  northwestern 
Spain,  of  the  vegetation  of  the  true  Atlantic,  we  must  seek  among 
fossil  plants  for  a  starting-point  in  time.  This  we  get  in  the  flora 
of  the  London  clay,  or  eocene,  which  is  tropical  in  character,  and 
far  anterior  to  the  oldest  of  the  existing  floras.  The  geographi- 
cal relations  of  the  miocene  sea,  indicated  hy  the  fossils  "of  the 
coralline  crag,  give  an  after-date  certainly  to  the  second  and 
third  of  the  above  floras,  if  not  to  the  first.  The  epoch  of  the 
red  or  middle  crag  was  probably  coeval  with  the  in-coming  of  the 
second  flora;  that  of  the  mammaliferous  crag  with  the  third.  The 
date  of  the  fourth  is  too  evident  to  be  questioned ;  and  the  author 
regards  the  glacial  region  in  which  it  flourished  as  a  local  climate, 
of  which  no  true  traces,  so  far  as  animal  life  is  concerned,  exists 
southwards  of  the  second  and  third  barriers.  This  was  the  newer 
pliocene  epoch.  The  period  of  the  fifth  flora  was  that  of  the 
post-tertiary,  when  the  present  aspect  of  things  was  organized." 

In  his  masterly  essay,  the  Professor  has  shown  that  the  pecu- 
liar distribution  of  the  endemic  animals,  especially  of  the  terres- 
trial mollusca,  bears  him  out  in  these  views.  And  among  the 
chief  conclusions  which  he  derives  from  the  facts  and  arguments 
there  adduced,  the  first  is,  that  "  the  flora  and  fauna,  terrestrial 
and  marine,  of  the  British  islands  and  seas,  have  originated,  so 
far  as  that  area  is  concerned,  since  the  miocene  epoch."  And  the 
second,  that  "the  assemblages  of  animals  and  plants  composing 
that  fauna  and  flora,  did  not  appear  in  the  area  they  now  inhabit 
simultaneously,  but  at  several  distinct  points  of  time."  These 
distinct  periods,  beginning  some  time  after  the  miocene  epoch  and 
ending  with  that  of  the  post-tertiary,  are  indicated  above.  And 
the  evidence  of  the  in-coming  of  each  assemblage  of  plants  and 
animals,  in  the  order  and  at  the  time  specified,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  fossil  recoi'ds  which  the  earth  contains,  and  which  the  essay 
clearly  exhibits.  It  hardly  need  be  added,  that  the  same  course 
of  investigation  is  as  applicable  to  the  entire  globe  as  to  the  area 
in  question,  and  the  relations  of  the  ancient  epochs  of  geology 
one  with  another,  as  of  the  present  with  the  geological  past. 


Note  E,  p.  180. 

On  the  subject  of  animal  pain  there  are  two  extreme  opinions. 
O*,  underrates  the  evil,  treats  it  as  incidental  merely,  and  tends 


NOTES.  287 

to  ignore  it.  The  other,  morbidly-  Inxurintos  m  the  idea  that  sen- 
tient existence  is  one  great  agony  ;  and  indignantly  turns  away 
from  the  ten  thousand  mitigating  proofs  that  there  is  a  law  of 
graduating  sensibility  pervading  the  animal  kingdom,  according 
to  which  the  degree  of  feeling  diminishes  as  the  organization  de- 
scends in  the  scale.  It  will  have  it,  that  "  the  mouse  is  in  ago- 
nies" in  the  presence  of  the  cat  which  is  about  to  destroy  it,  even 
though  the  mouse  practically  affirms  the  contrary  by  quietly  stop- 
ping to  discuss  a  morsel  of  bread  which  happens  to  lie  at  the  mo- 
ment in  its  path.  (A  fact  which  I  have  seen).  It  will  insist  that 
the  polypus  suffers  torture  at  the  excision  of  one  of  its  numerous 
and  ever-Avaving  tentacula,  although  all  the  other  tentacula  con- 
tinue to  wave  meantime  in  apparently  unconscious  and  undisturb- 
ed tranquillity. 

In  the  text,  I  have  maintained  a  medium  view ;  endeavoring 
to  show  that,  as  the  myriad  tribes  of  minute  organisms,  in  which 
sensibility  to  pain  is  reduced  to  the  minimum,  constitute  the  staple 
of  animal  food,  the  arrangement  benevolently  provides,  in  so  far, 
for  the  least  possible  amount  of  suffering ;  and  that  as  to  employ- 
ing them  for  food,  it  is  more  consistent  with  the  greatest  amount 
of  enjoyment,  that  a  certain  proportion  of  that  food  should  be 
animated,  and  be  filled  with  pleasure  until  it  is  wanted,  than  that 
it  should  never  have  existed.  One  of  my  reviewers  supposes  that, 
in  arguing  thus,  I  must  have  forgotten  that  the  food  of  the  herbi- 
vorous animal  is  chemically  the  same  with  that  of  the  carnivorous ; 
and  that,  therefore,  unless  the  stock  of  vegetable  food  failed  from 
the  superfecundity  of  animal  life,  my  position  is  not  made  good. 
Now,  I  can  assure  him  that  I  was  led  to  adopt  my  view  of  the 
subject,  not  by  forgetting,  but  by  remembering  the  point  in  ques- 
tion, and  by  remembering  it,  in  union  with  two  or  three  other 
facts  which  do  not  appear  to  have  ever  occurred  to  him.  He  ap- 
pears to  satisfy  himself  on  the  subject,  by  erroneously  limiting 
his  view  to  the  existence  of  the  larger  herbivorous  animals.  So 
also  another  writer,  taking  the  same  narrow  ground,  remarks,  that 
the  carnivorous  animal  finds  nothing  in  the  creature  it  devours, 
which  it  might  not  have  derived  from  the  vegetable  food  out  of 
which  the  flesh  of  its  prey  was  transmuted.  Now,  let  us  apply 
this  reasoning  to  the  ant  and  the  aphis,  or  plant-louse,  as  an  ex- 
ample. The  numerous  tribes  of  the  aphis  family  of  insects  are 
most  destructive  to  plants,  of  which  they  suck  the  juices  with  their 
trunk.  Now,  in  the  course  of  a  day,  an  ant,  whose  nest  is  at 
hand,  will  clear  a  leaf  of  a  whole  colony  of  them.  But  the  ant 
iinds  nothing,  it  is  said,  in  the  aphis,  which  it  might  not  have  de- 


288  NOTES. 

rived  from  the  leaf  out  of  which  %e  aphis  was  transmuted.  Grant- 
ed ;  but,  according  to  the  existing  arrangement,  a  hundred  insects 
lived  their  day  of  life  on  that  leaf,  which  they  could  not  have  en- 
joyed had  the  leaf  been  pre-occupied  or  exhausted  by  the  ant ; 
while  they  themselves  are  subsequently  carried  off  and  reserved 
for  the  sustenance  of  other  forms  of  life.  "  Consider  (says  Pro- 
fessor Owen  in  his  Lectures  on  the  Invertehrata)  their  incredible 
numbers,  their  universal  distribution,  their  insatiable  voracity, 
and  that  It  Is  the  particles  of  decaying  vegetable  and  animal  bodies 
which  they  are  appointed  to  devour  and  assimilate.  Surely  we 
must  In  some  degree  be  Indebted  to  these  ever-active  invisible 
scavengers,  for  the  salubrity  of  our  atmosphere.  Nor  Is  this  all : 
they  perform  a  still  more  Important  office  In  preventing  the  grad- 
ual diminution  of  the  present  amount  of  organized  matter  upon 
the  earth.  For  when  this  matter  Is  dissolved  or  suspended  In 
water,  in  that  state  of  comminution  and  decay  which  immediately 
precedes  Its  final  decomposition  Into  the  elementary  gases,  and 
its  consequent  return  from  the  organic  to  the  Inorganic  world, 
these  wakeful  members  of  nature's  invisible  police  are  everywhere 
ready  to  arrest  the  fugitive  organized  particles,  and  turn  them 
back  into  the  ascending  stream  of  animal  life.  Having  converted 
the  dead  and  decomposing  particles  Into  their  own  living  tissues, 
they  themselves  become  the  food  of  larger  Infusoria,  and  of  nu- 
merous other  small  animals,  which  In  their  turn  are  devoured  by 
larger  animals  :  and  thus  a  pabulum  fit  for  the  nourishment  of 
the  highest  organized  beings  is  brought  back  by  a  short  route 
from  the  extremity  of  the  realms  of  organized  matter."  These 
remarks  relate  especially  to  the  processes  which  are  ever  going 
on  in  the  teeming  world  of  waters.  True ;  the  animal  nourish- 
ment, in  this  instance,  is,  by  supposition,  already  decomposed; 
and,  therefore,  does  not  affect  the  question  of  prey.  But  the 
view  I  am  opposing  merges  this  aspect  of  the  subject,  and  equally 
denies  that  the  consumption  of  animal  food,  whether  alive,  dead, 
or  decomposed,  augments  the  sum  total  of  animal  enjoyment ;  for 
the  strength  of  Its  denial  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  chemical  ele- 
ments of  vegetable  and  animal  life  are  the  same.  But  who  does 
not  see  that  if  these  swarms  of  Invisible  animalcules  were  debar- 
red from  feeding  on  animal,  and  were  confined  to  vegetable  mat- 
ter, whole  tribes  of  them  must  be  blotted  from  existence  for  lack 
of  food  ?  Nor  could  the  process  of  annihilation  stop  here  :  It 
must  extend  also  to  whole  classes  of  those  animals  whose  decom- 
posed remains  they  now  devour  ;  for  If  we  are  "  in  some  degree 
indebted  to  these   ever-active  invisible  scavengers,  for  the  salu- 


NOTES.  289 

brity  of  our  atmosphere,"  their  non-existence  presupposes  also  the 
non-existence  of  their  pestilential  food. 

Those  who  argue  that,  because  the  food  of  the  herbivorous  ani- 
mal is  chemically  the  same  as  the  carnivorous,  therefore  nothing 
is  gained  to  the  amount  of  animal  life  and  enjoyment  by  the 
existence  of  carnivora,  unless  the  stock  of  vegetable  food  failed 
from  the  superfecundity  of  animal  life,  appear  to  overlook  cer- 
tain facts  important  to  a  correct  decision.  They  seem  to  forget 
that,  if  vegetables  have  a  chemistry,  animals  have  a  chemistry  of 
their  own  also ;  that,  although  vegetable  is  the  ultimate  solid  sup- 
port of  animal  life,  yet  animals  drink  and  breathe  as  well  as  eat ; 
and  that  drinking  and  breathing  are  the  means  of  growth.  The 
problem  is  not  merely.  Given  a  certain  surface  of  earth,  and  a 
certain  amount  of  vegetable  life,  to  support  and  determine  the 
greatest  amount  of  animal  life ;  but,  Given  both  these,  and  an 
ocean  of  air  and  of  water  in  addition.  The  animal  draws  from 
these  latter  sources  as  copiously  as  the  vegetable.  And  the  con- 
sequence is,  that  the  quantity  of  animal  matter  in  existence  is 
incomparably  greater  than  the  amount  of  vegetable  matter  would 
account  for.  And  the  obvious  inference  is,  that  a  far  greater 
variety  and  amount  of  animal  life  is  supportable  by  employing 
this  vast  quantity  of  animal  substance  as  food,  than  if  it  were  all 
wasted,  and  animal  life  were  sustained  by  vegetable  nourishment 
alone.  The  system  of  prey  Is  only  incidental  to  this  greater  ques- 
tion. If  it  be  true,  that  the  same  animal  seized  as  prey,  affords 
a  much  larger  quantity  of  nourishment  than  it  would  if  it  had 
been  left  to  waste  away  in  sickness  and  death ;  if  the  sudden  and 
rapid  multiplication  of  insect  life  would  in  some  instance  strip  a 
district  of  its  vegetable  clothing  were  it  not  kept  in  check  by  an 
insectivorous  provision ;  and  if,  as  I  have  instanced  in  the  case 
of  the  ant  and  the  aphides,  (other  illustrations  might  be  easily 
adduced,)  their  destruction  for  food,  does  not  cancel  the  previous 
fact  of  their  existence  and  enjoyment,  the  conclusion  is  fully  war- 
ranted, that  it  is  more  consistent  with  the  greatest  amount  of  en- 
joyment that  a  certain  proportion  of  animal  food  should  be  ani- 
mated and  be  filled  with  pleasure  until  it  is  wanted  than  it  should 
never  have  existed. 


Note  F,  p.  218, 

On  the  presumed  influences  of  climate,  food,  and  hybridization, 
the  following  observations  are  valuable,  from  "  Ornamental  and 

25  - 


290  NOTES. 

Domestic  poultry  ;  their  History  and  Management."    By  the  Rev. 
E.  S.  Dixon,  M.  A. 

"  Some  very  important  speculations  respecting  organic  life,  and 
the  history  of  the  animated  races  now  inhabiting  this  planet,  are 
closely  connected  with  the  creatures  we  retain  in  domestication, 
and  can  scarcely  be  studied  so  well  in  any  other  field.  Poultry, 
living  under  our  very  roof,  and,  by  the  rapid  succession  of  their 
generations,  affording  a  sufficient  number  of  instances  for  even  the 
short  life  of  man  to  give  time  to  take  some  cognisance  of  their 
progressive  succession,  —  poultry  afford  the  best  possible  subjects 
lor  observing  the  transmission  or  interruption  of  hereditary  forms 
and  instincts.  I  shall,  no  doubt,  at  the  first  glance,  be  pronounced 
rash,  as  soon  as  I  am  perceived  to  quit  the  plain  task  of  observing, 
for  the  more  adventurous  one  of  speculating  upon  what  I  have 
observed.  I  can  only  say  that  the  conclusion  to  which  I  have 
arrived  respecting  what  is  called  the  '  origin'  of  our  domestic  races, 
has  been,  to  my  own  mind,  irresistible,  having  begun  the  investi- 
gation with  a  bias  towards  what  I  must  call  the  wild  theory, 
although  so  fashionable  of  late,  that  our  tame  breeds  or  varieties 
are  the  result  of  cross  breeding  between  undomesticated  animals, 
fertile  inter  se.  It  will  be  found,  I  imagine,  on  strict  inquiry,  that 
the  most  careful  breeding  will  only  fix  and  make  prominent  pecu- 
liar features  or  points  that  are  observed  in  certain  families  of  the 
same  aboriginal  species,  or  sub-species,  —  no  more  :  and  that  the 
whole  world  might  be  challenged  to  bring  evidence  (such  as  would 
be  admitted  in  an  English  court  of  justice)  that  any  permanent 
intermediate  variety  of  bird  or  animal,  that  would  continue  to 
reproduce  offspring  like  itself,  and  not  reverting  to  either  original 
type,  had  been  originated  by  the  crossing  of  any  two  wild  species. 
Very  numerous  instances  of  the  failure  of  such  experimental 
attempts  might  be  adduced.  The  difficulty  under  which  science 
labors  in  pursuing  this  inquiry,  is  much  increased  by  the  mystery 
in  which  almost  all  breeders  have  involved  their  proceedings  even 
if  they  have  not  purposely  misled  those  who  have  endeavored  to 
trace  the  means  employed.  As  to  the  great  question  of  the  Immu- 
tability of  Species,  so  closely  allied  to  the  investigation  of  the  dif- 
ferent varieties  of  poultry,  as  far  as  my  own  limited  researches 
have  gone  —  and  they  have  been  confined  almost  entirely  to  birds 
under  the  influence  of  man  —  they  have  led  me  to  the  conclusion 
that  even  sub-species  and  varieties  are  much  more  permanent, 
independent,  and  ancient  than  is  currently  believed  at  the  present 
day.  This  result  has  been  to  me  unavoidable,  as  well  as  unex- 
pected ;  for,  as  above  mentioned,  I  started  with  a  great  idea  of  the 


NOTES.  291 

powerful  transmuting  Influence  of  time,  changed  climate,  and 
increased  food.  My  present  conviction  is,  that  the  diversities 
which  we  see  in  even  the  most  nearly  allied  species  of  birds  are 
not  produced  by  any  such  influences,  nor  by  hybridization ;  but 
that  each  distinct  species,  however  nearly  resembling  any  other, 
has  been  produced  by  a  Creative  Power :  I  am  even  disposed  to 
adopt  this  view  towards  many  forms  that  are  usually  considered 
as  mere  varieties.  As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  facts^ 
hybrids  that  are  fertile  are  even  then  saved  from  being  posterity- 
less  (to  coin  a  word)  only  by  their  progeny  rapidly  reverting 
to  the  type  of  one  parent  or  the  other ;  so  that  no  intermediate 
race  is  founded.  Things  very  soon  go  on  as  they  went  before,  or 
they  cease  to  go  on  at  all.  This  is  the  case  with  varieties  also, 
and  is  well  known  to  breeders  as  one  of  the  most  inflexible  difli-/ 
culties  they  have  to  contend  with,  called  by  them  '  crying  back.' 
This  circumstance  first  led  me  to  suspect  the  permanence  and 
antiquity  of  varieties,  and  even  of  what  are  called  '  improvements  ' 
and  '  new  breeds.'  Half  of  the  mongrels  that  one  sees  are  only 
transition-forms,  passing  back  to  the  type  of  one  or  other  original 
progenitor.  At  least,  my  eye  can  detect  such  to  be  frequently 
the  apparent  fact  in  the  case  of  Domestic  Fowls.  Any  analogies 
from  plants  must  be  cautiously  applied  to  animals ;  but  even  in 
the  vegetable  kingdom  the  number  and  reproductive  power  of 
hybrids  is  apparently  greater  than  it  really  is,  owing  to  the  facil- 
ity of  propagation  by  extension,  by  which  means  a  perfectly  sterile 
individual  can  be  multiplied  and  kept  in  existence  for  many  hun- 
dred years ;  whereas  a  half-bred  bird  or  animal  would,  in  a  short 
time,  disappear  and  leave  no  trace.  I  have  not  met  with  one 
authenticated  fact  of  the  race  of  pheasants  having  been  really  and 
permanently  incorporated  with  fowls,  so  as  to  originate  a  mixed 
race  capable  of  continuation  with  itself;  but  with  many  that 
prove  the  extreme  improbability  of  such  a  thing  happening." 
• 

Note  G,  p.  223. 

"  Some  years  ago,"  (says  Professor  Schleiden,  in  "  The  Plant : 
a  Biography,")  "  I  was  very  intimate  with  the  directing  physician 
of  a  large  lunatic  asylum,  and  I  used  industriously  to  avail  myself 
of  the  liberty  I  thus  obtained,  to  visit  at  will  the  house  and  its 
inhabitants.  One  morning  I  entered  the  room  of  a  madman, 
whose  constantly  varying  hallucinations  especially  interested  me. 
I  found  him  crouching  down  by  the  stove,  watching,  with  close 
attention,  a  saucepan,  the  contents  of  which  he  was  carefully  stir- 


292  NOTES. 

ring.  At  the  noise  of  my  entrance,  he  turned  round,  and,  with  a 
face  of  the  greatest  importance,  whispered,  '  Hush,  hush  !  don't 
disturb  my  little  pigs ;  they  will  be  ready  directly.'  Full  of  curi- 
osity to  know  whither  his  diseased  imagination  had  now  led  him, 
I  approached  nearer.  '  You  see,'  said  he,  with  the  mysterious 
expression  of  an  alchemist,  'here  I  have  black-puddings,  pigs' 
bones  and  bristles,  in  the  saucepan  —  everything  that  is  necessary 
—  we  only  want  the  vital  warmth,  and  the  young  pig  will  be 
ready  made  again.' "  This  is  hardly  a  caricature  of  certain  spec- 
ulatists.  "  Organism "  (says  Oken)  "  is  galvanism  residing  in  a 
thoroughly  homogeneous  mass.  *  *  *  A  galvanic  pile  pounded 
into  atoms  must  become  alive.  In  this  manner,  nature  brings 
forth  organic  bodies  "  ! ! 

Note  H,  p.  231. 

"  The  geographical  distribution  of  organic  groups  in  space " 
(says  Mr.  Strickland  in  his  work  on  "  The  Dodo  and  its  Kin- 
dred") "  is  a  no  less  interesting  result  of  science  than  their  geo- 
logical succession  in  time.  We  find  a  special  relation  to  exist 
between  the  structures  of  organized  bodies  and  the  districts  of  the 
earth's  surface  which  they  inhabit.  Certain  groups  of  animals  or 
vegetables,  often  very  extensive,  and  containing  a  multitude  of 
genera  or  of  species,  are  found  to  be  confined  to  certain  continents 
and  their  circumjacent  islands.  In  the  present  state  of  science 
we  must  be  content  to  admit  the  existence  of  this  law,  without 
being  able  to  enunciate  its  preamble.  It  does  not  imply  that 
organic  distribution  depends  on  soil  and  climate  ;  for  we  often  find 
a  perfect  identity  of  these  conditions  in  opposite  hemispheres  and 
in  remote  continents,  whose  faunaa  and  florae  are  almost  wholly 
diverse.  It  does  not  imply  that  allied  but  distinct  organisms  have 
been  educed  by  generation  or  spontaneous  development  from  the 
same  original  stock ;  for  (to  pass  over  otber  objections)  we  find 
detached  volcanic  islets  which  have  been  ejected  from  beneath 
the  ocean,  (such  as  the  Galapagos,  for  instance,)  inhabited  by 
terrestrial  forms  allied  to  those  of  the  nearest  continent,  though 
hundreds  of  miles  distant,  and  evidently  never  connected  with 
them.  But  this  feet  may  indicate  that  the  Creator  in  forming  new 
organisms  to  discharge  the  functions  required  from  time  to  time 
by  the  ever  vacillating  balance  of  Nature,  has  thought  fit  to  pre- 
serve the  regularity  of  the  System  by  modifying  the  types  of  struc- 
ture already  established  in  the  adjacent  localities,  rather  than  to 
proceed  per  f^nJtnm  by  introducing  forms  of  more  foreign   aspect." 


INDEX 


Abundance,  of  vegetable  life,  165, 
173  ;  of  animal,  239,  248,  259. 

Action  and  reaction  in  the  vegeta- 
ble kingdom,  149. 

Activity,  law  of,  stated,  58  ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  87- 
89 ;  from  organic  life,  144 ;  from 
sentient  existence,  199. 

Adaptations  to  pre-existing  laws, 
171;  animal,  249. 

Affinity,  147. 

Agassiz,  on  transmutation  of  spe- 
cies, 217,  225  ;  on  the  number  of 
fossil  fishes,  238. 

All-sufficiency  of  God,  20 ;  of  crea- 
tive power,  117, 120, 128 ;  of  crea- 
tive wisdom,  166, 168-175 ;  of  cre- 
ative goodness,  237 ;  manifesta- 
tion of,  progressive,  20  ;  unend- 
ing, 22  ;  all-comprehending,  23. 

Analogies  of  nature  to  moral  truth, 
97. 

Analogy,  61 ;  law  of,  stated,  ib. ;  il- 
lustrated from  inorganic  nature, 
97  5  from  organic  life,  153;  from 
sentient  existence,  214. 

Anaximander,  his  opinion  of  the 
creating  cause,  25. 

Animal  kingdom,  organically  con- 
tinuous, in  what  sense,  194,  207. 
Note ;  geological  continuity  of, 
195  ;  fourfold  division  of,'  ib. ; 
physiological  continuity  of,  198; 
organization,  plan  of,  198,  237  ; 
numbers  of,  248 ;  means  of  its  en- 
joyment improved  to  the  utmost, 
ib. 

A.nimal  and  organic  life,  distin- 
25* 


guished,  183,  195;  earliest  forms 
of,  not  the  lowest  order,  197  ;  va 
riety  and  succession  of,  196,  237, 
260 ;  fecundity,  239  ;  universali- 
ty, 248,  259. 

Antiquity  of  the  earth,  66. 

Appointment,  primary,  and  ever 
present  agency,  in  creation,  103. 

Argument  k  posteriori,  its  depend- 
ence on  h.  priori  beliefs,  124;  lim- 
ited to  mechanical  causes  and  ef- 
fects, 125, 126 ;  overlooks  the  orig- 
ination of  matter,  ib. 

Aristotle,  his  principle  of  animal 
classification,  241. 

Assimilation,  distinctive  of  life,  136. 

Astronomy,  its  limits,  73. 

Attributes,  Divine,  not  separable,  65, 
77,  129. 

Augustine  on  "the  beginning,"  31. 

Bacon,  on  final  causes,  139. 

Bell,  Sir  C,  on  the  relations  of  ani- 
mal organization,  204  ;  organic 
provisions  for  animal  Avell-being, 
252,  253 ;  on  the  sensibility  of  the 
skin,  254. 

Berzelins,  on  crystallization,  80. 

Bichat,  on  physiology,  138  ;  on  the 
two-fold  nature  of  the  animal  svs- 
tem,  184.  2^2. 

Botanical  plan,  142,  147, 153,  175. 

progress,  142,  143. 

Boyle,  on  the  pervading  agency  of 
God  in  Nature,  109. 

Brougham,  Lord,  on  instinct,  189; 
on  the  benevolence  of  the  Crea- 
tor, 251,  256. 


294 


INDEX. 


Buckland,  Rev.  Dr.,  on  the  botani- 
cal plan,  142  ;  on  the  gradual  con- 
formity of  animals  to  existing 
types,  198;  on  transmutation  of 
species,  218. 

Cambrian  system,  70. 
Carboniferous  system,  68. 
Causation,  the  idea  of,  how  derived, 

66. 
Cause  confounded   with  law,   104 ; 
with  condition,  1.56.231,  236;  the 
first,  differing  in  nature  from  se- 
cond causes,  125,  126. 

final,  138,  139. 

Cavanilles,  on  vegetable  growth,  145. 

Chalk  formation,  67,  68. 

Change,  law  of,  stated,  62  ;  illustrat- 
ed from  inorganic  nature,  112- 
117;  from  organic  life,  162,166; 
from  sentient  existence,  235,  240  ; 
ground  for  expecting  it,  112,  162, 
235  ;  conditions  of,  112,  163,  164; 
time  of,  not  capricious,  113,  162, 
236. 

Clark,  Dr.  AV.,  on  foetal  develop- 
ment, 221,  222,  223. 

Classes  of  plants,  the  same  from  the 
first,  132. 

Classification  of  inorganic  substan- 
ces, principles  of,  98-100;  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom,  147,  153;  of 
the  animal  kingdom,  227,  229. 

Coleridge,  on  animal  rationality, 
191 ;  on  the  progress  of  creation, 
201. 

(yOncuiTcnce,  constant,  of  the  Di- 
vine Will,  in  creation,  103. 

Condition,  not  to  be  confounded 
with  cause,  156,  231,  336. 

(^Constitution  of  plants,  independent, 
157;  of  animals,  229,  230. 

(Contingent  truth,  law  of,  stated,  5 ; 
illustrated  from  inorganic  nature, 
100,  101  ;  from  organic  life,  155  ; 
from  sentient  existence,  228. 

(continuity,  law  of,  stated,  57  ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  83- 
87  ;  from  organic  life,  141  ;  from 
sentient  existence,  194-199;  its 
unwarranted  application,  83  ;  not 
to  be  rejected  for  its  misapplica- 
tion. 84. 


prospective,  170,  219, 


ContriA'ances. 
243,  256. 

Cousin,  M.,  his  opinion  of  the  creat- 
ing cause,  25. 

Created  excellence  originally  in 
God,  18,  26. 

Creation,  cannot  supersede  the  Di- 
vine right,  17;  a  voluntary  act, 
24 ;  the  well-being  of,  coincident 
with  the  Divine  glory,  27,  28 ;  by 
natural  law,  not  free  from  moral 
objections:  103,  104,  109  ;  its  lim- 
itation, inherent  in  matter,  126  ; 
an  all-related  system,  1 73  ;  pri- 
mary, act  of,  274;  creation  proper, 
scriptural  view  of,  274. 

Creature,  none  for  an  eternity,  16. 

Cumbrian  formation,  70. 

Cuvier,  on  final  causes  in  organiza- 
tion, 137;  on  life,  140;  its  activi- 
ty, 144;  organic  continuity,  195; 
tx-ansmutation,  225. 

Daubcney,  Dr.,  on  the  rudimentary 
parts  of  plants,  154. 

Davidson,  Dr.  S.,  words  and  works 
of  God,  mutually  illustrative,  281. 

Davy,  Sir  H.,  on  the  electric  state 
of" the  earth,  87. 

Death,  animal,  a  part  of  the  system 
of  nature,  178-181 ;  objections  an- 
swered, 179  ;  involved,  in  the 
greatest  amount  of  animal  enjoy- 
ment, 180;  natural,  preceded  by 
the  cessation  of  sensibility,  181. 

Decandolle,  on  the  habits  of  plants, 
157. 

De  la  Beche,  Sir  Henry  T.,  on 
transmutation,  225. 

Descartes,  his  error  in  reasoning 
only  k  priori,  10  ;  on  animal  ra- 
tionality, 190. 

Design,  when  inferrible,  65,  119; 
two-fold  evidence  of,  1 56,  228, 229. 

Development,  law  of,  stated,  59 ; 
illustrated  from  inorganic  nafmc, 
90;  from  organic  life,  145:  from 
sentient  existence.  200. 

Development, natural.  anthro])omor- 
phizing  views  of,  ]G'V)-108  ;  rca.-^on 
assigned  for,  inconsistent,  156. 

Distances  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
123. 


INDEX. 


295 


Dixon  on  liansmutation  of  species, 
290. 

Earth,  its  antiquity,  66  ;  its  magni- 
tude, 120  ;  not  eternal,  71  ;  prim- 
itive activity  of,  89  ;  proximately 
made  for  man.  261  ;  a  school  for 
his  education,  ib. ;  a  temple  for 
his  worship,  262  ;  the  scene  of  his 
probation,  266, 

Earth's  crust,  ideal  section  of,  67. 

Pidiuburgh  Review,  on  Cousin's  phi- 
losophy, 25. 

Effect,  an  infinite,  in  space,  not  pos- 
sible, 21 ;  the  first  objective,  77. 

Ehrenberg,  on  microscopic  animal- 
cules, 121,  223,  224. 

Embryotic  hypothesis,  unfounded, 
205,  219. 

End  of  creation,  the  ultimate,  25, 
26. 

End,  more  than  one,  designed  in 
creation,  27  ;  proximate  ends  con- 
cur with  the  ultimate,  214 ;  ulti- 
mate, law  of,  stated,  51 ;  illustrat- 
ed from  inorganic  nature,  120- 
128;  from  organic  life,  169-175; 
from  sentient  existence,  243. 

Enjoyment,  the  existing  scheme  of 
animal  life  secures  the  greatest 
amount  of,  181. 

Eocene,  meaning  of,  197. 

Evidence  of  a  Creator,  measured, 
118;  of  power  and  wisdom,  from 
organic  and  inorganic  nature,  dif- 
ferent, 139,  140;- kind  and  degree 
of,  adapted  to  man's  designed 
constitution,  167-169,  242,  262; 
increased,  169,  243,  247. 

Excitability,  a  property  of  organic 
life,  146. 

Final  causes,  137 ;  assumed  by  those 
who  profess  to  dispense  with  them, 
138  ;  not  to  be  admitted  into  me- 
chanical inquiries,  139. 

First  Cause,  diifering  in  nature  from 
second  causes,  125,  126. 

Fletcher,  on  foetal  development,  221. 

Foetal  development,  221,  222. 

Forbes,  Professor  E.,  on  the  connec- 
tion between  the  fauna  and  flora 
of  the  British  isles,  and  the  creo- 


logical  changes  which  have  af- 
fected this  area,  283. 

Forchhammer,  134,  143. 

Fossil  flora  of  tertiary  strata,  143  ; 
fauna  of,  196  ;  flora  of  secondary 
strata,  143;  fauna  of,  196;  flora 
of  primary  formation,  143  ;  fauna 
of,  196  ;  variety  of,  237,  260. 

Fossil  plants,  number  of  species, 
141,  142. 

FoAvnes,  on  organic  combinations, 
146. 

Fundamental  relation,  26. 

Generation,  spontaneous,  221-225. 

Genesis,  13,  75,  274. 

Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire,  on  final  causes, 
138. 

Geological  evidence  of  the  earth's 
antiquity,  objections  answered,  75. 

Geology  and  miracle,  265-267. 

God,  his  own  end,  13,  16,  20  ;  eter- 
nity of,  13  ;  necessary  existence, 
absolute  perfection,  ib. ;  onliness, 
15;  plurality  in  unity,  14;  self- 
sufficiency,  14, 1 9  ;  unchangeable- 
ness,  16;  to  be  his  own  end,  an 
antecedent,  eternal  right,  17;  his 
ultimate  purpose  in  creation,  20; 
his  all-sufficiency ,,ib. ;  manifesta- 
tion of,  not  verbal  merely,  33. 

Goodness,  creative,  177;  pain  con- 
sistent with,  178;  and  economis- 
ed, 178,  179,  252,  255  ;  and  prey, 
system  of,  178  ;  all-sufficient,  232- 
239,  247,  260  ;  display  of,  why  not 
absolutely  infinite,  240,  257,  258  ; 
power  and  wisdom,  subservient  to, 
247 ;  infinity  of,  inferrible,  257  ; 
unlimited  in  relation  to  time,  258. 

Goppert,  on  the  number  of  specie^s 
of  fossil  plants,  141. 

Great  reason,  13,  271. 

"Heavens  and  earth,"  meaning  of, 
274. 

Heb.  xi.,  14. 

Henslow,  Rev.  Professor,  on  the  ac- 
tivity of  vegetable  life.  144  ;  exci- 
tability, 146. 

Herschel,  Sir  John,  on  law  as  predi- 
cated of  inanimate  nature,  81  ;  on 
the  relations  of  the  planc.*ary  sy.s- 


296 


INDEX. 


tern,  90 ;  on  star  clusters,  122  ;  on 
causation,  125. 

Hooker,  on  the  stability  of  nature, 
211. 

Humboldt,  Alexander,  on  yolcanic 
activity,  87,88;  on  the  distances 
of  heavenly  bodies,  122;  on  the 
abundance  of  vegetable  life,  1 65. 

Hypothesis,  the  legitimate  use  of, 
10;  of  an  atom  proving  an  infi- 
nite being,  21 ;  nebular,  73,  78, 
85. 

Idea  of  causation,  how  derived,  66. 

Ideal  physical  perfection  suggested, 
96;  botanical,  153;  animal,  §13. 

Ideal  section  of  the  earth's  crust,  67. 

Influence,  law  of,  stated,  59;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  93  ; 
from  organic  life,  149;  from  sen- 
tient existence,  207. 

Inorganic  nature,  64. 

Instinctive  mind,  184-193  ;  why  dif- 
ficult to  explain,  184,  187  ;  sensa- 
tion, a  property  of,  184;  percep- 
tion, 1 85  ;  muscular  contraction, 
ib. ;  volition,  ib. ;  its  proximate 
end,  186;  vital, ib.;  adaptive,  187; 
mental,  187;  advocates  of  animal 
rationality  prove  too  much,  188, 
189  ;  incapable  of  transmitting 
knowledge,  190;  of  barter,  ib. ; 
of  speech,  ib. ;  what  intervenes 
between  its  perceptions  and  voli- 
tions, 191;  its  memory  and  asso- 
ciations, 191 ;  unconscious  of  its 
own  ends,  192 ;  why  without 
speech,  193. 

Instincts  of  the  same  species  perma- 
nent, 210. 

JenjTis,  on  the  arrangement  of  infu- 
soria, 224. 
John,  the  Gospel  of,  i.  1-3,  30,  276. 

Kant,  on  organization,  137. 
KnoAvledge,  instinctive,  not  trans- 
missible, 189. 

Lamarck,  on  organic  continuity,  195 ; 

on  transmutation  of  species,  216  ; 

on  the  internal  sentiment,  232. 
Laplace,  his  nebular  hypothesis,  73 ; 


on  chance,  82,  98,  101;   on  the 
stability  of  the  heavens,  93,  97. 

Law,  meaning  of,  as  applied  to  na 
ture,  81,  94,  95. 

Law  of  resemblance,  stated,  50  ;  of 
the  end  51 ;  of  relation,  52 ;  of 
obligation,  53 ;  of  well-being,  ib. ; 
of  necessary  truth,  54 ;  of  contin- 
gent truth,  55  ;  of  ultimate  facts, 
56  ;  of  progression,  ib. ;  of  con- 
tinuity, 57  ;  of  the  past  carried 
forwards,  ib. ;  of  activity,  58 ;  of 
development,  59;  of  order,  ib. ; 
of  influence,  60 ;  of  subordina- 
tion, ib. ;  of  uniformity,  61;  of  • 
analogy,  ib. ;  of  change,  62 ;  of  the 
method,  63. 

Lawrence,  on  the  mystery  of  sensa- 
tion, 232. 

Laws  deduced  and  stated,  50. 

Leibnitz,  on  continuity,  84 ;  on  the 
calculable  nature  of  the  universe, 
98. 

Liebig,  on  the  influence  of  natural 
science  on  mental  improvement, 
167 ;  on  organic  activity,  199 ; 
on  organic  continuity,  207  ;  on 
chemical  forces  and  vital  powers, 
213. 

Life,  organic,  136 ;  assimilation,  a 
distinction  of,  ib. ;  propagation, 
137;  excitability,  146;  freedom 
of  life,  150  ;  organization,  a  con- 
dition of,  not  its  cause,  151 :  not 
necessitated  by  its  physical  con- 
ditions, 158;  known  only  by  its 
manifestations,  159  ;  explained  by 
physiology,  in  what  sense,  160; 
its  relations  to  creation  and  provi- 
dence, 161  ;  distinguished  from 
animal,  183,  195  ;  always  con- 
tinued on  the  earth,  197  ;  supe- 
riority of  animal  to  vegetable, 
200  ;  embryo  tic,  first  traces  of 
205,  208. 

Limestone  beds,  69. 

Limitation  of  creation,  inherent  in 
matter,  126,  173. 

Limits  of  astronomical  science,  74. 

Lindley,  Dr.,  on  the  decomposition 
of  plants,  133;  on  botanical  rela- 
tions, 142. 

"  Logos,"  considered  philologically, 


INDEX, 


297 


81 ;  historically,  ib. ;  exegetical- 
ly,  32. 

Lusus  naturse,  accounted  for,  199. 

Lyell,  C,  Sir,  on  geological  grada- 
tion, 87 ;  on  the  permanence  of 
instincts  in  the  same  species,  210  j 
transmutation,  225. 

Macculloch,  John,  M.  D.,  on  geo- 
logical* gradation,  86 ;  on  the  in- 
consistency of  not  recognising  a 
Designing  Cause,  168. 

Man,  his  voluntary  nature  consult- 
ed, 117,  166-168,  240-243  ;  a  me- 
ditation on  his  coming,  260;  his 
well-being  provided  for,  263. 

Manifestation  of  God,  not  verbal 
merely,  33. 

Matter,  creation  of,  a  display  of 
power,  but  not  exclusively,  77, 
119;  inorganic,  its  constitution,  8 1 ; 
its  undecompounded  forms,  ib. ; 
its  properties,  81 ;  its  laws,  ib. ;  its 
combinations,  ib. ;  relations  of,  to 
space  and  to  time,  distinction  be- 
tween, 109 ;  proportion  of,  to  space, 
122 ;  origination  of,  not  included 
in  the  six  days  of  the  Adamic 
creation,  278-281. 

Means  and  ends,  distinguished  from 
causes  and  effects,  138. 

Mediatorial,  the  constitution  of  the 
universe,  29. 

Method,  law  of  the,  stated,  63 ;  illus- 
trated, from  inorganic  nature,  117- 
119;  from  organic  life,  166-169; 
from  sentient  existence,  240-243. 

Mill,  J.  S.,  on  the  legitimate  use  of 
hypothesis,  1 1 ;  on  laws  of  nature, 
94 ;  on  their  supposed  explanation, 
104  ;  on  ultimate  laws,  233. 

Miiller,  on  the  primitive  trace^  206. 

Murchison,  Sir  R.  I.,  on  fossil  plants, 
141 ;  on  increase  of  species,  197. 

Natural  Theology,  262,  266 ;  connec- 
tion with  revealed,  271. 

Nature,  inorganic,  64 ;  distinguished 
from  organic,  147. 

Nature,  laws  of,  81,  94,  95 ;  compat- 
ible ydth  numerical  increase,  94 ; 
with  perturbations,  94,  203 ;  and 


with  certain  changes  in  its  con- 
stitution, 94 ;  regularity  of,  often 
confounded  with  explanation,  104; 
anticipated  art,  244. 

Nebular  hypothesis,  its  design,  35; 
and  claims,  73,  77,  85. 

Necessary  truth,  law  of,  stated  54 ; 
illustrated  from  inorganic  nature, 
110;  from  organic  life,  161 ;  from 
sentient  existence,  235 ;  time  and 
space,  necessary  conditions.  111; 
power,  both  cause  and  condition,ib. 

Necessary  development,  an  assump- 
tion, 162,  232. 

Nerves,  each  class  of,  specific,  230, 
254-256 ;  benevolent  arrangement 
of,  253 ;  sensibility  of  each  nerve 
varies  with  its  function,  255  ;  not 
necessarily  sensitive,  230,  256. 

Newton,  on  the  perturbations  of  the 
planetary  system,  93;  on  the  di- 
vine agency  in  nature,  104 ;  on  the 
relation  of  physical  scieiice  to  the 
first  cause,  124. 

Nichol,  Prof,  on  planetary  changes, 
85. 

Obligation,  the  primary,  34 ;  moral, 
ib. ;  varies  with  the  relation,  ib.; 
mediatorial,  ib. ;  Scripture  assumes 
it,  37 ;  reason  of,  38-41 ;  essential 
to  the  Divine  manifestation,  42; 
unending,  ib. 

Obligation,  law  of,  stated,  53 ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  95 ; 
from  organic  life,  154;  from  sen- 
tient existence,  211-212. 

Old  red  sandstone,  69. 

Oolitic  formation,  68. 

Order,  law  of,  stated,  59 ;  illustrated 
from  inorganic  nature,  92;  fivm 
organic  life,  148;  from  sentient 
existence,  205-207. 

Order  of  the  manifestation,  64. 

Organic  life,  a  display  of  wisdom, 
but  not  exclusively,  131 ;  laws  of, 
essential  to  man's  interests,  166; 
distinguished  from  animal,  183, 
195. 

Organs,  perfect  from  the  first,  218; 
no  one  animal  organ  universal, 
230. 


mDEX. 


Organization,  137;  a  condition  of 
life  not  its  cause,  152. 

Owen,  Professor,  on  the  orders  of  fos- 
sil reptiles,  196  ;  on  the  transmu 
tation  of  species,  225. 

Pain,  compatible  with  creative  good 
ness,  178-181,  287;  its  warning 
nature,  252 ;  contrivances  for  eco- 
nomizing it,  253. 
Paley,his  definition  of  Instinct,  187; 
all  nature  pervaded  by  the  same 
characteristics,  205,  210 ;  on  the 
preponderance  of  animal  enjoy- 
ment, 247. 

Past,  brought  forwards,  law  of,  stat- 
ed, 57  ;  illustrated  from  inorganic 
nature,  79  ;  from  organic  life,  133- 
136;  from  sentient  existence,  182. 

Perfections,  divine,  not  separable,  65, 
77,  129. 

Phillips,  Professor,  on  the  earliest 
fossil  forms  of  life,  133;  life  and 
its  conditions,  158;  its  uninterrup- 
ted maintenance,  197,  237  ;  adap- 
tation of  the  globe  to  man,  242. 

Plan,  botanical,  142,  148,  153,  174; 
animal,  198,  214;  all  related,  246. 

Planetary  system,  magnitude  of,  121. 

Powell,  Rev.  Professor,  on  the  evi- 
dence of  power  and  wisdom  com- 
pared, 140. 

Power,  fundamental  to  every  other 
attribute,  65 ;  creation  of  matter, 
a  display  of.  but  not  exclusively, 
77,  120;  creative,  unlimited  in  re- 
lation to  time,  126,  173;  evidence 
of,  increased,  169. 

Power  creative,  the  display  of,  not 
absolutely  infinite,  115,  120,  124, 
all-sufficient,  117,  120,  128;  a  dis- 
play of,  unlimited,  requires  time 
unlimited,  120;  interpositions  of, 
direct,  157,  231 ;  increased  display 
of,  243. 

Preliminary  Treatise  of  the  Library 
of  Useful  Knowledge  on  creative 
arrangements,  244-246. 

Primary  formation,  69;  fossil  flora 
of,  142;  fauna  of,  196. 

Primary  obligation,  34. 

Primitive  trace  of -embryonic  life, 
209. 


Progression,  law  of,  stated,  56 ;  il- 
lustrated  from  inorganic  nature, 
82,  83  ;  from  organic  life,  136 ; 
from  sentient  existence,  183-193. 

Progressive,  display  of  divine  all- 
sufficiency,  20. 

Propagation,  distinctive  of  life,  137. 

Prospective  contrivances,  170,  219, 
243,  255. 

Prout,  on  the  molecular  constitution 
of  matter,  101. 

Proximate  principles  of  life,  not  imi- 
table,  160. 

Purpose,  the  ultimate,  20. 

Pusey,  Rev.  Dr.,  on  Gen.  i.  L  275. 

Reason,  the  great,  13,  271. 

Recency  of  man's  creation,  76. 

Relation,  the  fundamental,  29 ;  me- 
diatorial, 30;  preceded  creation, 
ib. ;  subservient  to  the  display  of 
the  Divine  all-sufficiency,  31 ;  rea- 
son of,  37-40;  will  never  termi- 
nate, 42. 

Relation,  law  of,  stated,  52 ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  90, 
92;  from  organic  life,  147;  from 
sentient  existence,  203-208 ;  rela- 
tions of  matter,  co-existent,  90; 
successively  existent,  91  ;  to  God, 
92 ;  of  resemblance,  97 ;  of  organic 
life,  external,  147,  153;  internal, 
147;  of  the  animal,  external  and 
co-existent,  203 ;  internal  and  suc- 
cessive, 204. 

Resemblance,  law  of,  stated,  50 ;  il- 
lustrated from  inorganic  nature, 
77;  from  organic  life,  131-133; 
from  sentient  existence,  178,  180. 

Resisting  medium,  73. 

Revelation  and  natural  science,  273. 

Right,  the  supreme,  42 ;  of  the  Me- 
diator to  the  agency  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  ib. ;  to  the  service  of  the 
creature,  43  ;  to  all  its  legitimate 
increase,  44;  to  the  satisfiiction 
arising  from  the  accomplishment 
of  His  creative  designs,  44 ;  from 
beholding  the  progress  of  His  pro- 
vidential scheme,  45 ;  the  effects 
of  His  interposition  for  man's  re- 
covery, 47 ;  from  the  homage  of 
the  recovered,  48;  from  being  the 


INDEX. 


299 


object  of  infinite  complacency,  ib. ; 
from  the  attainment  of  the  ulti- 
mate end,  ib. 

Roget,  P.  Mark,  M.  D.,  on  the  part 
of  the  foitus  first  perfected,  206 ; 
on  the  nervous  arrangements,  254. 

Rudimental  organs,  154,  215. 

Schleiden,  his  illustration  of  wild 
speculations  on  life,  291. 

Schmid,  on  life,  137. 

Science  versus  atheism,  71,  80. 

Secondary  strata,  67 ;  fossil  flora  of, 
143  ;  fossil  fauna  of,  196. 

Sedgwick,  Rev.  Prof,  on  the  suc- 
cession of  fossil  species,  197. 

Sensation,  a  property  of  animal  mind, 
187  ;  known  only  by  its  manifes- 
tations, 232 ;  physiological  expla- 
nations presuppose  it,  232-234 ; 
its  relation  to  Creation  and  Prov- 
idence, 233. 

Sensibility  to  pain  involved  in  sen- 
sibility to  pleasure,  181 ;  of  each 
class  of  nerves  specific,  230,  254. 

Silurian  system,  69. 

Smith,  Dr.  J.  P.,  on  John  i.  1-3,  31 ; 
273,  282. 

Species,  increase  of,  197. 

Spontaneous  generation,  222-225. 

Stewart,  D.,  on  the  pervading  na- 
ture of  the  Divine  agency,  106; 
on  the  regularity  of  physical  laurs, 
210. 

Strickland,  on  classification,  227 ;  re- 
lation of  organic  distribution  and 
physical  conditions,  292. 

Stuart,  Prof.  M.,  on  the  original  act 
of  creation,  276. 

Subordination,  law  of,  stated,  60 ; 
illustrated  from  inorganic  nature, 
93  ;  from  organic  life,  159  ;  from 
sentient  existence,  208. 

Succession  of  vegetable  worlds,  171. 

Supreme  right,  42. 

Swain  son,  on  gnimal  adaptation  and 
enjoyment,  250. 

Tertiary  strata,  67;  fossil  flora  of, 

143;  fossil  fauna  of,  196. 
Theology,  natural,  262-266. 
Tholuck,  Prof,  on  the  "  Logos."  31, 

277 


Ticdemann,  on  the  ultimate  charac- 
ter of  life,  233. 

Transmutation  of  species,  216,  291 
of  individual  organs,  unknown, 
218. 

Ultimate  end,  proximate  ends  con- 
cur with  the,  214. 

Ultimate  facts,  law  of,  stated,  56; 
illustrated  from  inorganic  nature, 
102-110;  from  organic  life,  159; 
from  sentient  existence,  232. 

Ultimate  purpose,  20. 

Unending  display  of  Divine  all-suf- 
ficiency, 21. 

Uniformity,  law  of,  stated,  61 ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  93- 
95;  from  organic  life,  150;  from 
sentient  existence,  209. 

Unity  of  organic  composition,  138. 
199. 

Universe  dependent,  18 ;  its  consti- 
tution mediatorial,  29 ;  self-acting, 
without  analogy,  106;  material, 
magnitude  of,  121. 

Vegetable,  did  it  precede  animal, 
life?  133;  variety  of,  164,  172- 
worlds,  succession  of,  172. 

Velocities  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
123. 

Vertebral  classes,  order  of  succes- 
sion, 197. 

"  Vestiges  of  the  Natural  History  of 
Creation,"  on  continuity  and  deve- 
lopment, 84 ;  on  the  relative  dis- 
tances of  the  planets,  86 ;  creation 
made  independent,  103 ;  anthro- 
pomorphizing views  of,  105-109 ; 
embryotic  hypothesis  of,  219. 

Vital  functions,  involuntary,  251. 

Well-being,  law  of,  stated,  53 ;  illus- 
trated from  inorganic  nature,  96 ; 
from  organic  life,  152  ;  from  sen- 
tient existence,  212. 

Whewell,  Rev.  Dr.,  on  crystalliza 
tion,  79 ;  on  laws  of  nature,  95 ;  on 
gravitation,  101 ;  contingency  of 
natural  laws,  ib. ;  on  organization, 
137, 138, 141 ;  on  final  causes,  138, 
282;  on  instinct,  185. 

Wisdom,  what,  129 ;  its  display  to 
be  expected,  ib. ;   displayed,  but 


300 


INDEX. 


not  exclusively,  in  organic  life, 
131;  creative,  all-sufficiency  of, 
164-166,  173-175;  display  of,  not 
absolutely  infinite,  165, 173;  infin- 
ity of,  inferrible,  173;  unlimited, 
in  relation  to  time,  174;  increas- 


ed display  of,  243,  256. 
Wiseman,  Rev.   Dr.,   on  the  inter 

val  between  the  original  and  thb 

Adamic  creation,  281. 
Words,  progressive  enlargement  of 

their  meaning,  196. 


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